My Father's Son
by PcKtmouse
Summary: Eight year old David Doppler wants nothing more than to escape the life he feels is being planned for him by his father. But when the boy finds himself far from home and on the run from murderous privateers he realizes he wants nothing more than to escape back to the family he left behind.
1. Good Morning Davie

I have always wanted to write a story about the Doppler puppy and decided to finally sit down and do it to blow off steam while working on 'Memories of Yesterday.' The children in the story are named after famous inventors and aviators and their personalities are simply inventions of my choosing. I hope everyone enjoys because I have already had a lot of fun writing the chapters I have completed.

Disney/RLS Stevenson (c) everything

* * *

David Doppler stretched against the linen sheets of his bed, his young muscles aching in protest at having to be used so early in the morning. He smiled against the pain and opened his weary eyes to summer's first morning. Summer. A groan filtered from the boy and he pulled the sheets over his head as though to block out the inevitable day that was dawning. David hated summer vacation. He was the only child in his class not looking forward to the last day of school, which had gone by too quickly in his opinion, and now there was no denying that it was here; the very first day of summer. A summer filled with tutoring and private lessons, not to mention his three sisters – the very thought made a familiar dread bubble in his stomach like a bad dinner.

"_Wake up Davie_!" The dread turned to nausea as several bodies pummeled his thin frame through the blanket pulled high over his head. "It's morning Davie, wake up!"

"Get off me you lousy brats!" He thrashed blindly and only succeeded in tangling himself up in the sheets; the chanting dissolved into mad giggles and his attackers backed off long enough for the young man to free his head and gasp for air. Ruth and Jacqueline squatted nearby, their impish grins spreading ear to ear while the fair haired Lillian hovered cautiously by the doorway. "Mom!" David cried. "They're in my room again!"

"Momma told us to come wake you, big baby!" Jacqueline sneered, shaking her red hair playfully in his face. David swatted her away only to be covered in brown curls as his other sister wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled close. "She says it's time to get up!"

"And that breakfast is ready." Lillian whispered musically and finally joined her struggling siblings on the bed. David squirmed in Ruth's surprisingly strong grasp and spat out the stray hairs tangled with his tongue. "I don't – bleh! – I don't care, you're not supposed to be in my room! _Mom_!"

"I swear I have seen criminals more sociable than you lot!" His mother's voice drifted through his room and order quickly restored itself at her command; Ruth's hold recoiled like a steel trap and she scurried back to join Lillian at the bottom of the bed. Jacqueline merely grinned up at her mirror image. "Momma, Davie tried to block his door again." David flinched as his mother's green eyes jumped from her children to the chair that he had clumsily shoved underneath the handle of his door last night. "But Mom, if I don't then they do this!"

"You're still not supposed to!"

"You're such a tattle, _Jack_."

"Don't call me that! Momma!"

"If you both don't straighten up," their mother growled suddenly, "You'll be spending the beginning of your summer with Grandma Doppler." Both children fell deathly silent. Their mother straightened with pride and ran her hands through Ruth's mess of brunette curls as she spoke. "Girls, go down and start breakfast. Your brother needs to change."

"Yeah, into someone different!" Jacqueline hissed into his ear before sliding off the bed with her sisters. They obediently allowed themselves to be shepherded out of the room and a moment before his mother closed the door behind them he called out, "Enjoy your breakfast Jack!" He saw a glimpse of furious green eyes before they were shut off by the heavy wooden door and a similar, cooler pair gazed down at him. "Why do you antagonize her like that, David?"

"Because she always starts it!" David squirmed out of the covers into the cold air. "Mom, I _can't_ spend my whole summer like this! I want a lock for my birthday." But the tall woman shook her head. "You know the rule about locks, dear. Your birthday only comes once a year, I'd suggest you put more thought into your presents and not this petty argument."

"It's not petty! I'm the only boy and I don't want a bunch of hollow headed girls – Mom, I can dress myself!" David pushed away his mother's hands as they began lifting his nightshirt from over his head. "I'm almost nine!"

"Force of habit, dear." She smiled as David hurriedly dressed himself. "I forget how grown up you're becoming." David returned her smile. "You say that every year, Mom!"

"That's because it's true every year." He didn't complain as his mother pulled him close and kissed the spot just above his ear. She was wearing the perfume that Lillian loved but was too shy to ask for as her birthday gift and the scent drifted over him comfortingly. "Will you at least think about the lock?" The boy pleaded after several long seconds. His mother's slender ears twisted in a thoughtful manner. "I will – after you discuss it with your father."

"But Mom -!"

"Now go! Eat your breakfast before your sisters polish it off for you." She playfully swatted him as he shuffled out of his bedroom. "Miss Spouts will be here shortly for your lessons and we don't want to keep her waiting."

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

Miss Spouts was appropriately named. She had a round, fat body and four arms that looked incredibly too short against her large frame and her stubby legs barely seemed strong enough to carry her weight. Her neck, however, was slender and incredibly long, almost attractive, and David found it a shame that her wrinkled face was flabby like her lower body. When viewed from a distance the woman greatly resembled a grotesque teapot and he cautiously watched out of the corner of his eye as Ruth doodled a cartoon of their tutor on the corner of her paper. She was just about finished drawing the woman's neck as a teapot spout when her voice, which was as thick as the rest of her, cut through the small room. "Eyes forward, cheeldren. I weel now geeve you your readeeng assignments."

Ruth's elbow quickly covered the drawing as Miss Spouts shuffled between their desks and handed them a short list of stories and their authors. David frowned and squinted down at the printed ink; three weeks ago the boy realized that it was growing harder and harder to read until finally the letters that were supposed to be crisp and bold were nothing but fuzzy symbols in his eyes. He pushed the paper to the edge of his desk and discretely leaned back in his chair until the letters gained some of their original shape. "Read thee leest and choose two storees; you weel write a paper no shorter than five pagees explaneeng – "

"Excuse me, Miss Spouts…" Lillian spoke and timidly raised her hand. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but can Romeo and Juliet be added to the list?"

"Oh my leettle devochka, such a storee is not good for cheeldren!" Miss Spouts drawled sadly and patted her blonde head with a freshly manicured hand. Lillian withered dejectedly in her seat as Jacqueline cut in. "You don't want to read that pathetic excuse for a love story, Lily! Besides, everyone knows that Shakespeare's works belong to Edward De Vere."

Ruth huffed in irritation. "Not everyone knows that, Jackie. It's a theory – a _misguided_ theory." She added with a hint of superiority that was not shaken by her sister's glare. "The only reason you don't believe it is because you don't want to accept history's wrong!"

"And the only reason you _do _believe it is because you like to argue with everyone!"

"I – I just want to read Romeo and Juliet." Lillian whispered with wide eyes.

"Well, I theenk you two have geeven us our deebate for today!" Miss Spouts grinned. "Ruthee, you argue why Shakespeare stole from Deee Vere, and Jackee, you argue why he deed not." Both girls groaned and trudged up to the front of the room to argue the other's points. David barely listened to the quarreling sisters and instead focused on the paper in front of him; he leaned forward and back, squinted and focused, trying to find the limits of his eyes. At arm's length he could just make out some of the words and the further back he removed himself the clearer everything became.

"Davie, what are you doing?" Lillian whispered. The boy snapped back to attention and realized he had leaned his chair onto its back two legs. "N-nothing." He stammered, and gently righted himself.

It took nearly twenty minutes for Miss Spouts to grow tired of the debate and send the girls back to their seats before moving the lesson on to math. David passed the time watching Ruth draw and making the numbers in his workbook go fuzzy and clear. Their four stomachs had just begun to rumble in need of lunch when the tutor finally dismissed them with a page of homework and a sloppy kiss on each of their foreheads. "Do svidaniya, cheeldren. I weel see you in two days, and I expect to see much progress on your papers." They responded with a chorus of "Yes ma'am" and David waited until his sisters had filed out to fish the list of stories from his bag. He tilted the page and shut one eye, trying to make out the first line. "T – t – the…Le – La – The Last…"

"What's wrong with you?" David yelped and jumped from his seat. Jacqueline grinned from the open doorway, leaning on the paneled side with her arms crossed. "Can you not read?"

"Don't be a smart aleck; you know I can!" He snapped. His sister sauntered closer, her grin widening with each step. "I've seen you acting weird." She said. "Twisting your head and squinting your eyes – you can't see can you?" David's jaw trembled uncontrollably. "Jackie, please don't tell!"

"Geez, don't cry over it! You just need glasses." She reassured him and sat in a nearby chair. "Daddy has glasses."

"That's why I don't…Look, just please don't tell! Promise me you won't!" Jacqueline stared at him thoughtfully and David found himself unable to look away. "If you _never_ ever call me Jack again I promise not to tell Momma or Daddy."

"I'll never call you Jack again!" He repeated immediately and stuck out his pinkie finger. "Now you promise!" His sister huffed and wrapped her pinkie around his, sealing their secret together in an unbreakable bond. The silence following their pact was uncomfortable and it did not take long before the siblings excused themselves and walked to the dining room at different paces. Ruth and Lillian were already seated but had waited politely for their sister and brother to join them and it was not long after they had started eating that their mother also sat with them. "Where is Daddy?" Lillian asked with a glance at his empty seat.

"Ahh my dears, it is one of those rare occasions where your father actually ventures outside instead of gazing at it through his telescope." The girls giggled light heartedly. "He will be back in time for supper, and – " Her gaze suddenly fell onto David. " – In plenty of time to prepare for your lesson tonight."

The young boy growled and stabbed a piece of scrambled egg with his fork. "I'm tired of astrology, Mom."

"Astronomy, David. Dear Heavens, do not _ever_ let your father hear you mutter astrology in the house!"

"Whatever it is I'm tired of it! And why am I the only one who has to go?" He asked weakly. His sisters murmured disapprovingly but his mother stopped their chatter with a small wave of her delicate hand. "Your father wants very little from you, David."

"He wants me to be just like him! Always buying me clothes like him and the same books as him and the astronomy lessons!"

"He wants to bond with you the only way he knows how. So tonight when he brings up the Astronomy Convention…"

"MOM!"

"Do not fuss!" She warned. "It is three days out of your vacation and your father has been looking forward to this for some time. Go for his sake if nothing else."

"I'll go, Momma." Lillian said over her plate and David nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Mom, let Dad take Lily!"

"Lily, you wouldn't know what to do at an Astronomy Convention!" Ruth giggled. Offended, Lillian began to answer but was interrupted by her mother. "That is very gracious of you Lily, but this is your brother's responsibility." The boy pouted his lips as he glared down at the tablecloth and muttered under his breath. "Why don't you just start calling me Delbert, too?"

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

The evening hours were a particularly beautiful time for Benbow. Without the pollution and harsh glares that accompanied larger cities the quiet town was able to display a spectacular viewing of the night sky and it was one of the reasons Delbert Doppler had chosen to make his home in the dusty mining community. But as David crossly made his way to his father's study and peered out the expansive windows he could not see any of the beauty the sky held; in his mind the sight translated into diagrams of stars and their relative positions to other celestial bodies during the months. Already his father's scholarly curse was seeping into his blood and the boy wished for nothing more than to be able to look at the dark night and see swirling collisions of color like Ruth or envision a romantic story about star-crossed soul mates the way Lillian could.

His father's study was as cluttered as ever; his mother had tried to adjust the man's need for disorder before he and his sisters had even been born and it was the only time David knew of that his mother had not followed through with a challenge. He cautiously stepped around a stack of thick books easily twice his size and called out, "Dad?"

The great chair attached to a monstrous telescope swiveled around at his voice and his father grinned down at him. "David! Right on time; are you ready for your first summer Astronomy lesson? Let me get the telescope ready…"

"Can we talk about something first, Dad?"

"Of course! Whatever is on your mind."

"Well…I want a lock for my room."

"Oh…You know your mother's rule about locks." He answered automatically and delicately adjusted a large brass knob. "I know!" David huffed. "But if you say I can have one then she'll have to listen!"

"Ha! The day your mother listens to me is the day – well, now, that's not important." His father leaned over to peer at a chart, obviously past the conversation, but David was not ready to surrender. He craned his head in front of the chart and peered into his father's eyes. "I want to suggest a hypothetical situation in my defense." The old man grinned, amused, and leaned back in his chair as David continued. "I am denied a lock even though all my siblings are girls. If the situation was reversed and I was the only girl in a house filled with boys I don't think my request would be ignored." He spoke slowly and enunciated as he had been taught by Miss Spouts, thankful that the only thing of his father's that he had not inherited was his nervous speech impediments. His father continued to grin ear to ear as he thoughtfully readjusted his glasses. "Well, hypotheticals are generally weak defenses but you make a valid point!"

"So can I have one?" He asked in attentive hope. "I'll discuss it with your mother later, now come look and identify this cluster." David wished he could flatten his ears like his sisters but he settled for stomping a little too heavily across the floor and pulled himself into the telescope's vacated seat. He gazed into the eyepiece and the distant Etherium was suddenly within arms reach. "Seven stars in the shape of a plough…."

"Take everything in before you answer! Observe and consider every variance." David rolled his eyes and stared uninterested into the telescope for several seconds before pulling back. "Those stars make up the body of Ursa Minor."

"You're correct – er, in a way; sevens stars do make up the primary figure of Ursa Minor, however those are not the stars in the lens. These stars are actually a part of Ursa Major. Your error was honest though, the two are practically identical to each other except in size."

"I know what that's like." David murmured but his father was too caught up in his lecture to hear. "Here, I'll show you a simple way to tell them apart; come over to – " Suddenly a soft gwapping sound filtered through the air and both men glanced about comically as it gently grew louder. David had heard the sound many times before from his father's aged stock creature Delilah and sure enough as his father stood and moved to one of the windows with David close on his heels they both saw that a carriage had pulled up and parked intrusively at the head of their cobblestone driveway. The grunts and snorts of the carriage beasts were too strong to ignore now and it was certain they had alerted the rest of the house with their strange barking. "A visitor at this hour? Who in heavens could it be?" His father mused.

David pressed his nose close to the window, holding his breath so as not to fog the glass. The carriage door opened and even from the great distance the boy could see the vague silhouette of a thin yet muscular form and a pristine white uniform he knew so well. "_It's Jim!"_ He cried and tore off for the stairwell. His eager feet ran so quickly that Jim – for it was him – had not even made it to the front door before David pushed it open and launched himself at the startled man. He laughed with joy as he collided with Jim's firm chest and strong arms latched around the boy to lift him high off his feet. "Davie! You get taller every time I see you, and faster too – or your sisters are getting slower!" He spun around as he spoke and David giggled madly as his vision swam. It was mere moments later that his sisters arrived and Jim released the boy to give the impatient Jacqueline and Ruth their own turns as Lillian bashfully watched. The young girl had just gathered up the courage to raise her own arms to Jim in a silent request when their parents appeared in the doorway. "Captain James Hawkins." His mother greeted proudly. Jim gave an exaggerated curtsy that made the children shriek with laughter. "Sorry to drop in this late but my ship made port behind schedule."

"Jim, you know you're always welcome!" His father assured the man, with a small pat on the shoulder. "Your visits bring such vexation, _er,_ exaltation…"

"We're always happy to see you." Their mother broke in amongst the laughter that now included Jim's own. "But come inside, don't block his way children – go on." David and his sisters obeyed and eagerly went first into the warm house. Lillian walked with her blonde hair in front of her face, too embarrassed to admit her disappointment at being left without a hug, when a large squeak erupted from her as Jim casually lifted her in his arms. "Don't think I've forgotten about you my Golden Lily!"

Jim's visits were not rare but the young captain was frequently away supporting his career and it was with great joy that the children greeted him when everyone was finally assembled in the living room. Each one fought for the right to sit on his lap and they would have continued all night had their mother not finally commanded them to 'stop their ridiculous behavior' and act like civilized beings. So they settled for sitting at his side, Jacqueline and Ruth on one and David and Lily on the other, and barraged him with questions.

_Where did you go? How many people did you see? Did you get lost? How did you get that scar? Did you have to shoot anyone – _Jackie! That is not an acceptable question!_ – Who was on your ship? How long are you staying? Will you be here for our birthdays?_

"That's right; it's going to be your birthday soon." Jim grinned. "Don't pretend like you forgot, Jim! You brought us presents didn't you?"

"Ruth!" Their father scolded but Jim affectionately tapped the flushed girl's nose. "You got me, Ruthie! I'll give them to you but you can't open them until your party or my mom will be pisse – ugh, angry at me."

"We promise to wait!" They chanted and the man obligingly dug into his duffel bag and handed the girls three sizeable boxes before turning to David with a grin. "I didn't leave you out Davie; you'll just have to wait a bit longer than the others, okay?" David hardly cared, as long as Jim was here he never needed another birthday present again. Then it was their parents turn to talk and the conversation suddenly became heavily boring to the four young minds. They chatted about mortgages and trading prospects with distant planets, professors that Jim and Amelia knew from the Academy and the article that Delbert was planning to have published. It was not long before the siblings slumped against the couch and their mother announced that it was time for bed. "Can Jim tuck us in?" David asked and his sisters nodded their approval. "I don't mind." Jim said to their parents.

"Go on then and get yourselves ready." Their mother instructed warmly. "Jim will be along shortly." The children wasted no time in brushing their teeth, washing their faces and changing into their sleep clothes. David finished first and quickly ran back down to the living room to make sure that his sisters did not get Jim's attention first, but he stopped at the top of the stairs as his name drifted up. "I know he seems a bit young, but I think it would really do well for Davie." The boy dropped to his knees and crept closer to the banister as he listened intently. "And it wouldn't be for a long time – just a week."

"Well I think it's a splendid idea. I've been eager to take the children out on a ship for months now but this one – " His mother tipped her head to the side and jerked towards his father. "Is still shell shocked from our last escapade in the Etherium."

"I would think so!" He sputtered. "Imagine if our little ones were to get caught up in such a fiasco! Why I'd…"

Jim laughed and leaned back casually. "Relax Doc, it's not going to be anything like the Legacy; I just want to take Davie out on my ship for a while, let him build up his space legs." David's heart hammered in his chest. Him on Jim's ship! The boy practically shook with excitement as the thought about it – him on a real ship with a real Captain! Jackie was going to be so furiously jealous! "I've got leave for the next three weeks so I thought I could take him after their birthday."

"Oh! But Delbert, isn't that…?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that's when I was going to take David to the Astronomical Convention." _What!? The convention?_ "That's okay!" Jim was saying. "I'll jus take him another time."

No, no, no! This wasn't fair! Why did he always have to do what his father wanted?! "I better go see if the kids are ready." David was thrown from his despairing thoughts as Jim's footsteps started for the stairs and his hiding place. He crawled on his hands and knees to the hallway before tearing off into his sister's room. The three girls were finally changed into their nightclothes and sitting on Ruth's bed; they glanced at him with mild irritation as David barged in, panting. "Where's Jim?" Jacqueline demanded.

"Here I am!" David jumped as the man's voice issued behind him. "Woah! Sorry Davie, didn't mean to scare you! Are you guys ready to be tucked in?"

"Us first, Jim! We're ready now!" Ruth squealed and hopped between her sheets. Jacqueline and Lillian quickly followed, each of them burrowing under the covers and staring at Jim with eager expectation. Jim laughed and scratched the back of his neck before tucking them in one by one. David waited impatiently as he folded the covers around Ruth, then Jacqueline, but when he reached Lillian the man paused. "Lily, you haven't said three words to me – what's wrong?" Lillian shook her head and pulled the covers up to her nose as Jacqueline snorted. "It's because of those penny romances she reads!"

"She fancies you!" Ruth giggled, ignoring the look of absolute horror that crossed her sister's face. Jim smiled and patted the blushing girl's hair. "Well, I'm too old for you, Golden Lily, but there's not a boy in the universe who wouldn't fancy you back." And with that he lightly kissed Lillian's cheek to the amazement of her bewildered sisters. "Good night, girls." He called out and gently led David out by the hand. The door had just closed behind them when a trio of delighted shrieks filtered through the wooden frame. "Girls are so weird." David sighed. Jim laughed loudly as they traveled down the hall to David's room and the boy bounced into bed as he was also tucked in. "Give it a few years, Davie. One day they'll grow on you."

"Not _those_ girls!" He snarled. "And why did you have to kiss Lily? They're never going to shut up about that." His friend grinned. "If you want a kiss too all you have to do is ask!"

"_No_!" David yelled and squirmed as Jim pretended to try and catch the boy. "No you weirdo! Hahhah! Get off me!" The boys wrestled playfully until David was out of breath and his sheets were a tangled mess. Jim took a moment to readjust the covers and again tuck the edges around his body. "Night, Davie."

"Jim? I want to go with you on your ship." The man turned back as David spoke, his surprise apparent. "Were you – you were listening in to us, huh?"

"I'm sorry." He whispered but Jim was smiling easily. "I wanted to take you out for your birthday, but we'll do it another time after the convention."

"But he hasn't even asked me to go yet!" David whined as the man sat back down on his bed. "Why can't I go with you instead?"

"Davie, this will be a great chance to spend some time with your dad – "

"I don't _want_ to be around him! I'm sick of looking like him, acting like him, being like him! I'm sick of _him_!" There was silence after his outburst, both boys too stunned by David's words to speak. Jim stared straight ahead at the wall, unblinking and unmoving like a statue in the park, his face twisted into an emotion that the child did not recognize. "Jim?"

"A lot of people would love to have their dads around – you should be happy that yours wants to be." David felt his jaw tremble as Jim stood and left without as much as a goodnight. It took all of his self control not to cry as his friend's footsteps echoed down the hall, extinguishing every light until the house was bathed in darkness.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP 

As he had feared the girls wanted to talk about nothing during breakfast except Jim's kiss. David sat at the table bitterly, hardly eating his food, and trying not to think about last night every time they said his friend's name. Jim would never take him out on his ship now; not after David had made him so angry. But it wasn't his fault! Why should he have to like his father just because Jim didn't have one? But even as the thought crossed his mind David felt a wave of guilt crash over him and he was disgusted with himself. His mother and father patiently listened to the girls chatter and just as the boy had finished and was about to excuse himself his mother spoke. "Jackie, have you shown your brother yet?"

"Shown me what?" Jacqueline grinned and took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket, passing it to him carefully like it was made of glass. "It's a poem Davie, about you!" David's gut tightened and he quickly shoved the paper under his jacket. "T-thanks…"

"David," His mother scolded. "Your sister wrote that for you! Read it out loud."

"Yeah, read it!" His sister purred; her smile as wide and menacing as a crocodile. There was nothing he could do except slowly pull the paper out and unfold it with his trembling hands; the words were so fuzzy it looked as though the sheet had been dipped in water. The boy focused as hard as he could, wishing that some sense would come from the jumbled marks and trying to ignore the expectant stares of his family as he struggled. The effort made his head hurt and his stomach grew more nervous. "Why are you crying, Davie?" Ruth asked. David hadn't realized there were tears in his eyes and before he could wipe them away his mother had seen them as well. "David! What's wrong, dear?" His mother wrapped her arms around his small frame soothingly which only made his tears spill over faster. "I-I-I-I…"

"Oh my!" His father said suddenly and also came to stand by David's side. "Davie, you're having difficulty seeing, aren't you?" There was no need to answer, the boy's tear stained face said everything his parents needed to know. "Well dear, it looks like our boy inherited my eyes as well!"

"That's hardly a surprise, although I had hoped we would have more time than this before glasses became a necessity!"

Glasses. It was his worst nightmare come true; the final variable that would make him a perfect imitation of his father. No one except Jacqueline, who was still grinning and watching her brother with interest, seemed to notice the young boy's dejection. "I don't want glasses." He muttered darkly. His mother's hand ran through his hair and for once the touch felt more revolting than comforting. "I'm sorry dear, but you can't go forward not being able to read." His father nodded. "Yes and it's not as debilitating as it seems! Why, I believe the optician who crafted my first pair is still in business; he'll be able to make a pair similar to mine when I was your age…"

"_NO_!" David cried and kicked away from the table. He heard his sisters gasp in surprise but the sound barely registered as he continued to scream his frustrations. "I'm _not_ wearing glasses, I'm _not_ studying astronomy and I'm _not_ going to that stupid convention!"

"David!"

"I'm _not_ you! I _never_ want to be you! I _hate_ being like you!"

There was silence. No one moved or breathed and the house ceased its subtle groaning; even the creatures outside seemed to simply vanish from the universe. David was the only existing being, huffing and trembling from his outburst as he glared into the astounded brown eyes so much like his own. He saw the grief, the shock, but his immature mind focused on nothing else but his own bitter resentment. It felt like an eternity before the spell was broken and his father silently walked from the room without glancing at anyone, just as Jim had the night before. David squeezed his eyes shut as the world returned to life; his sisters began to whine as tears took hold and their mother guided them out of the room after their father.

'_You had to do this_.' He told himself. _'Things will get better from now on! They have to be better!_'

But alone in the kitchen the young boy had never felt more worse.

* * *

To be continued


	2. Aboard the HMS Laelaps

Thanks to everyone who has commented on this story! I am glad so many people are enjoying it. Here is chapter two.

Disney(c) TP content

OCs (c) me

* * *

"You're such an idiot!"

"Shut up, Jackie! I am not!"

The redhead sat opposite her brother in the carriage, a sister on each of her sides, glaring at David with her lips pulled back in snarl. "You are! You said those terrible things to Daddy, just because he said you needed those stupid glasses!" David frowned; the new glasses felt like a hot coal in his pocket and while he wished his mother would hurry and pay for them so they could leave he also dreaded going home. His father had not said a word to him since yesterday morning, nor David to him, and even though his mother and Miss Spouts had taken them to Crescentia to get what his mother called 'decent eyeglasses' he had a sinking feeling the trip had been planned just to keep the two boys apart. "You need to apologize, Davie." Ruth added and Lillian nodded in agreement.

"You guys don't understand!" He pleaded. "Mom doesn't make you learn what she wants you to! You don't have to hear each day about how you're expected to follow her every footstep! She doesn't make you be _exactly _like her!"

"I'd like to be like Daddy." Lillian said softly and David turned on her angrily. "Well you're not! That's my responsibility, remember?" The girl shrunk back and Jacqueline wrapped her arms around her frail sister. "Don't get mad at Lily because of something you did!"

"Something _I_ did!? If_ you_ had just kept your promise and not told none of this would have happened!" Jacqueline sniffed. "_I_ didn't tell. You did that on your own!"

"_You – you're a horrible sister_!"

"_And you're a horrible son_!"

"Cheeldreen!" Miss Spouts shrieked from the driver's seat. "That is quite eeenough!" But David's brown eyes were already overflowing with tears. His vision was fuzzy and distorted from the water, making the three set of eyes suddenly split into six and then 12 until the whole carriage seemed full of eyes all staring right through him. The boy lunged for the door and was running even before his feet hit the ground. "_No_! Davie! Oh, Miss Spouts help – _Davie_!"

The blood pounding in his ears couldn't drown out his sister's cries and he ran faster to escape them. Down down down the street he ran not knowing what he was passing or where he was going. He just wanted to get away. It was not long before his young lungs put a stop to his running and as the adrenaline drained from his veins his legs began to ache and tremble as though to punish him for his actions. For the first time David glanced up and saw that he had run all the way from the business district to the ship yard; his mother had taken them several times to tour her galleon and while the boy usually loved the angry chaotic atmosphere of the docks his mind yearned for quiet. He moved past ship after ship and finally found an area that seemed devoid of a working crew and it was here among some barrels that he sat and rested.

A horrible son. He was a horrible son. Why? Because he didn't want to be like his father? David gasped for breath so his struggling brain could organize the thoughts flying through at light speed. All this time he had told himself his father was in the wrong, that the man was a tyrant in his expectations, but… But even Jim thought that David should feel happy for the chance to be like his father. Did that make David…Was he in the wrong? Was he a bad son?

"_Daaaaveeeeed_!" Miss Spouts! David recognized that warbly call anywhere! And right behind the screech came a second, assertive shout. "David Rittenhouse Doppler you respond _this instant_!"

Mother! Oh no! He couldn't face her now, not like this! David tried to squeeze in-between the pack of barrels but they refused to move under his weakened muscles. "Daaaaveeeed!" Desperate, the boy stood to run and his eye caught sight of a gaping hole in the back of the cluster – a single, open barrel. "David!" He climbed on top of the sealed barrels and crawled over to the open cask; it was only about one-third of the way full with a greenish, hairy fruit, the lid sitting innocently nearby. Without a second thought he slid inside feet first and pulled the lid over his head.

He did not consider how dark it would be inside. David was not afraid of darkness, he had not been since he was five, but his eyes stung as they quickly adjusted to the lack of sun and it suddenly seemed much harder to breath. He pushed up timidly on the lid with his finger and was relieved when cool air slid down into his hiding spot.

"Daaaaveeeed!"

"David!"

"Daaaaveeed!"

Slowly their shouts melted away and David let his head rest against the cool barrel. What was wrong with him? Why…Why was he a bad son? He stayed in there for hours it seemed like, trying to think and yet afraid to delve too deep into this thoughts. He tried to remember back to the point where everything changed and when he started to turn against the father who doted upon him. Again and again Jacqueline's voice filtered through his ear as though she was there in the barrel speaking to him. _"You're a horrible son!"_ David swallowed down tears and squeezed his eyes shut in denial.

All of a sudden his ears raised involuntarily; David fell quiet and listened intently as a thudding, heavy sound crept through the barrel to reach him. Thunder? An animal? No – footsteps! Several of them!

"Judder, you finish this barrel?"

"Nah, Crag must have done it in. Roll and net it so we can launch!"

David lunged as the world fell sideways and his head smacked against the barrel that was now the floor; the fruit flying up to cover him. He slammed against the rigid wood again and again as he was rolled and his lungs could not keep his breath long enough to scream. His stomach lurched as the rolling as suddenly stopped and he felt a sickening rush that told him he was now high above the ground. "Help!" He choked. "Hel – " The nausea rose in his throat as the rising stopped and he simply swayed in the air, bumping against other barrels as the wind pushed him. David gasped as the realization hit him – the barrels were being loaded onto the ship! "_Heeeelp_!"

"Alright Judder, bring her down slowly – _slowly dammit_!" Everything fell down around him in a horrible free fall. David screamed until the net stopped and his head met the barrel for the last time.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

David had never been more terrified as he was in that nightmare of a barrel. It was dark, cramped, and the boy had to press his lips against the fractures of the wood to suck in air like a nursing child. When he had first woken he had panicked, pushing against the lid with all his might and howling like a trapped animal; but no matter how hard he shoved the lid stayed tight and despite his screaming no one came to free him. He cried until he was exhausted but he never slept, too afraid that he would not wake up for a second time if he drifted off. Every now and then he nibbled on the fruit piled beneath him and drank their juice to fuel more of his tears.

And it was quiet. So quiet. With a trembling voice David sang any song that he could think of, from the Montressor Planetory Anthem to the several bedtime lullabies his parents had crooned to him and his siblings when they were younger. Time passed slowly inside the barrel so that he didn't know if he had been trapped for a few hours or a few days.

"I tell ya Glib, I heard it! The singin' of some ghoul down here."

What was that? A voice? David raised his weary head and pressed his ear against the rough wood. He waited, biting his lip, his hope slipping away with every silent second until, "Yer daft. Ain't nothin' down 'ere but the rations."

"I heard it I tell ya! It was a wretched sound comin' up from te floors – I heard it when I was passin' to the engine room."

"Well it ain't singin' now, is it? Come on, Captain wants the solar intake valves fixed before evenin' meal." The young boy sucked in his breath and with every ounce of strength he had left kicked and pounded his fists against the walls of his prison. "NO! I'm here, I'm here! Don't go! I'm here!" His strained voice cracked and David gasped for oxygen. He heard one of the men moan. "Mother of Heaven, Glib, did ya hear that?"

"Aye, I 'eard it, Crag! Let's get the 'ell outta 'ere!"

"No!" David screamed. "I'm not a ghost! I'm a boy! Let me out! _Please_!"

But it had already gone quiet. He sobbed again, pressing his face into his cramped knees and howling with despair. Suddenly a nerve tingling scrape filled the barrel as the object on top of him was moved and before David could react the lid was removed, bathing his starved eyes in harsh light. "Ey Crag, come get a look at yer spook! The Captain's gonna roll over w'en he sees t'is!"

The men were none to gentle as they half-carried, half-dragged the boy from the barrel and through the corridors of the ship. Tears fell down his face while they moved and each time one of the crew came up to see what Crag and Glib had fished from the food barrel David flinched and cried even harder. Finally they were out on deck and the arms pulled him to a large door before Glib knocked loudly. "Captain! Got somet'in for ya to see!" Without waiting for a reply he pushed the door open and roughly tugged on the boy's arm; David gasped and pulled away but Crag pushed his back and he fell through the threshold.

The cabin was surprisingly clean unlike the grimy men that David had seen; it almost reminded him of his mother's stateroom on the Legacy. A large desk sat in the middle that housed an even larger man who was glaring at the two men with unbridled rage. He was a human, though much taller and much fatter than any human David had ever seen, and his black, beady eyes were spread too far apart. "Crag! Glib! My stateroom is not your damn house – if you enter without my say so again, I'll…" Whatever he was going to do was lost as his eyes fell on the trembling boy and he brushed his dirty blonde bangs away from his face. "What in blazes do you have?"

"Stowaway, sir." Crag answered. "Found him tucked away in a barrel down in the 'old!" The Captain bellowed with laughter and slapped his thigh. "In a _barrel_!? I haven't heard that one in ages! But I guess these rats will try anything to get aboard."

"I'm – I'm not a rat and I'm not a stowaway!" David croaked for the first time. The intimidating man grinned and stood from his seat, displaying his dark blue uniform adorned with several golden badges hanging from his chest. "Not a stowaway? Glib, what would you call someone who hides inside a barrel in the belly of the ship and doesn't appear until after we've left port?"

Glib glanced down at David with a cruel smile. "Sounds like a dirty lil' stowaway to me!" The boy bit down on his trembling lip and straightened himself ever so slightly, trying not to seem so small in the shadows of the great men. "If that is your criteria then you've proven yourself that I am not a stowaway! I did _not _hide in a barrel on your ship – the barrel was sitting open on the Crescentia port and you placed it on your ship after I was inside! And I did _not_ intentionally wait to be discovered; I was trapped in that barrel thereby making it _impossible_ for me to announce myself. If anything this situation is referred to as a _kidnapping_!"

Crag and Glib stared down at him with startled, glazed expressions but the Captain laughed and again slapped his fat thigh. "A scholarly brat! Well listen close because that barrel might have been on public ground when you weaseled your way inside but the barrel itself and everything inside is my property! So that makes you a trespasser! And since you ate some of my food goods – I can see the stains around your mouth – that also makes you a thief! What say you to that, my little academic?"

David's lips were trembling again, all of his confidence expelled in a single gasp. "I…I…"

"Ey, Glib, I've seen his face before. Where've I seen it?"

"'Ow am I supposed to know w'at all ya see, Crag? Ya bloomin' idiot." But Crag had already slammed his fist into his open palm and smiled with satisfaction. "I know! Yer Smollet's brat!"

"Damn fool! 'E don't look anyt'ing like Smollet!"

"Not her! The man she holed up with! I'd swear to the Virgin's ass that he's their brat!" David whimpered as Glib's fist caught his collar and his three eyes glared down at the boy as he pulled him to the top of his toes. "T'at true, boy? You Smollet's brat?"

"I – I – I don't – I don't - !" The Captain's hand was suddenly there, pushing Glib away and grasping onto the child's shaking shoulders. "Back off him, you! Now tell me, little one," he purred, his voice suddenly calm and sweet like dripping honey. "Do you know your mother's maiden name? No? What about her first name?"

"It's…It's Amelia…"

"Hot damn!" Crag shouted and David jerked at the sound. "You hear that Captain? Smollet's little brat on your ship! Oh, I'd love to see the look on that sow's face when she – "

"Stop your wretched howling, Crag! Can't you see you two louses have scared the boy clean out of his wits!?" Crag fell silent and both men took several steps back as though the Captain had whipped them. David felt his large hand on his back and he was guided forward towards the desk; the man lifted him effortlessly and sat the boy in a nearby chair before taking his own place behind the desk. "Now my little scholar, I apologize for the stupidity of my men, harassing you like a common street urchin. The son of Captain Amelia will receive no such treatment on Sam Jacobs' ship!"

"So you…You know my Mother?" David asked. "Aye lad, I've grown to know her quite well over the years." Jacobs grinned up at his men waiting by the door but David was too young and too relieved to understand the look or the biting sarcasm in his voice. "Then can you take me home!" The Captain gasped. "Home! Back to Crescentia? Oh, I'm afraid that won't do – now buck up!" He added as David's face fell. "My ship has a schedule to keep and I have my men's wages to think about!"

"But….I…."

"Besides! If you've got an ounce of your mother's blood in you then you've got to feel the powerful draw of the Etherium in your bones, hmm? Wouldn't you like to stay with us for a spell; taste a bit of that freedom and earn your space legs while you're at it?" That was exactly what Jim had said he wanted for David – to get his space legs. "What sort of business are you in," he asked. "Exploration?"

"A smart question! Always test the ground before you step, lest you fall into a pit I always say. No, my little scholar, the boys and I are licensed privateers; servants of the Queen, God bless her, and the noble Intergalactic navy." He motioned up to a frame on the wall that held a very official looking marquee with the Queen's royal seal embellished proudly in the center. David noted with curiosity that the document was hanging upside down. "But what with the declining presence of the Procyan Armada we're mainly scouts, patrolling the trade routes and keeping an eye on merchants."

"A close eye!" Crag added with a smirk. Jacobs glared at him. "How long will it take until I can go home?"

"That's a rough figure to make; we've got a port call to make in Crotega that we can't miss and from then on its Trulan and Aukcvails." David closed his eyes and quickly charted the course in his head; if time equaled distance divided by speed…Oh, why did he have to spend his math lessons watching Ruth draw?...The distance between Crescentia and Aukcvails divided by…His eyes snapped open as the calculation clicked into place; even going at top speed it would take over a month to reach their final port! "I can't wait a month!" He cried.

"You see that, boys? Did that number work all in his mind! Aye, I suppose it would take about that long to reach Auckv – ."

"I _can't _stay here a whole month! My parents…my mother will be worried for me!" The man chuckled and slapped David's shoulder so hard the boy nearly doubled over. "Don't you worry about that, I'll write a letter to your mother once we reach Crotega and let her know that you're safe with me."

"But that's still two weeks away!"

"Why, by the time we dock we'll have you trained into a right fine sailor! You'll step foot on Crotega and not know what to do with yourself the ground will feel that strange to you! Glib, you take the boy and teach him."

Glib's jaw dropped. "W'y me?! Crag's te one w'at found te rat!"

"And if you want your full share you'll not call him that again while you're on my ship! By the way, little scholar, what is your name?" David hardly heard the question; his childish mind was filled with misery and all he could think of was how badly he wanted the family he had run away from. "David." He whispered in a voice that was half a sob. "My sisters call me Davie." The effect his name had was astounding. Glib cursed and jumped away from the boy as though he had burst in flames and Crag drew a strange symbol on his chest with a finger. Jacobs, however, simply clucked his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly. "Oh, no, no, we can't have that name on my ship! Not at all."

"'E'll bring us not'in' but bad luck!" Glib cried and David was so confused he forgot he had just been on the brink of tears. "'E'll 'ave te fury of Davy Jones brought down on us!"

"Calm yourself, Glib!" Jacobs barked. "All we need is to give him a new name." The boy could hardly believe it; three grown men were in shambles because of a superstition! "My name is not bad luck just because it's the same as Davy Jo – " The two men groaned and again David felt the man's hand on his shoulder. "Now listen boy, _you_ may know that and _I_ may know it but what matters is what_ they_ believe." He said, pointing to his cowering men. "The way I see it you've got a long stay here and you're already the odd man out as it is; you don't want to be causing anymore trouble for yourself – do you?" David gulped and tried not to gaze into his hardened eyes. "No…No, sir."

"There's a smart boy!" Jacobs praised and slapped his back. "Now we just need a proper name for you – Ah! I've got just the one!" The child watched as he turned and rummaged in his desk drawer for several seconds; when the Captain finally straightened he took hold of David's hand and pressed a gold coin into his palm. On the surface was an engraving of a figure in robes and an impressive looking phrase written in a strange language bordered the edge. "That, little one, is Saint Nicholas – the guardian of all sailors! There's not a prouder name to go by and it's the one you'll have from now on. What's your name, boy?"

"Nich...Nicholas."

"Good lad! You'll not find any trouble on the H.M.S Laelaps now. Crag, you'll take charge of him from here on out; teach him every trick and talent you know. And you Nicholas, why I wager by the time we reach Crotega you'll never want to see your old home again! Ha ha!"

* * *

To be continued


	3. My Name Is David

Again thank you to everyone who reviews/favs/follows this story. I hope everyone enjoys!

Disney(c) TP characters

OC(c) me

* * *

The life of a sailor was not a leisurely one as David quickly learned and despite Jacobs' proclamation the boy quickly found himself missing his home in Benbow. The hours of waking and sleeping were irregular; sometimes after working for hours in the dark Crag would send him to bed in full daylight, but even then David was allowed to rest for only a few meager hours at a time. The food was one notch up from gruel and the vile taste plus his lack of sleep and the constant lurching of the ship made him violently ill for nearly three days. "We've all been there, Nicholas," Crag comforted gruffly as David tossed and turned in his hammock. "But just ye keep at it and ye'll get used ta it." David wasn't sure he wanted to get use to anything on this dreary ship, but this was the life he had wanted and no matter how badly his heart ached the boy resolved to make the best of things.

Sometimes the Captain would bring David to his stateroom and ask him to do more of his 'number work' or to judge one of his own calculations; the boy liked these visits immensely for it gave him the chance to rest from Crag's chores and focus on what he actually knew how to do, but it was also during these meetings that David noticed something strange. When Jacobs would construct a problem for him to solve the man would always simply point on a chart and tell him to estimate a ships location if given this amount of hours, or how much time they would need to reach a destination. He never wrote anything down and even when David wrote him detailed explanations the Captain would toss the paper aside and gruffly demand that he be given number coordinates. In fact, the boy could not find a trace of a book or written documents that were not simply scribbling of numbers and childish symbols; one day as he sat in Jacobs office his eyes trailed up to the upside down marquee and the realization finally hit him: the Captain could not read!

He decided to test his theory one day and wrote the first word he could think of on the top of a stray sheet of paper: Trouble. David handed it to Jacobs and asked innocently, "Did I spell the name of the ship right, Captain?" Jacobs' mouth turned up into a half sneer and he gazed down at the paper with what he obviously thought was a very intelligent reading face before quickly handing the paper back. "Aye, Nicholas, that you did! A very fine job." David was baffled. He didn't understand how a man could possibly be elevated to such a position without learning his letters but he knew better than to ask the proud Captain outright. So he simply said his thank you to Jacobs and scurried out of the stateroom. Crag was there to meet him on deck, his orange skin shining brightly under a layer of sweat. "Ey, Nicholas! Where ya run off to?"

"The Captain's room, sir! He needed some help with coordinates!" He answered and a large smile crossed the roper's face. "Ah, you're doin' us a real service there, laddie! Was a lot harder to do this job when we had to be guessin' and trackin', but nevermind – we'll see about that later! Now ye need to learn somethin' what will come in might handy in years to come." David was already intrigued and fidgeted excitedly. "What's that?" Crag reached to his side and pulled out a very sinister, very dangerous looking pistol. His fidgeting stopped immediately. "I'm gonna learn you how to shoot."

"Oh…But, I haven't had any gun training and mother say's we're not to handle one without…" Before he could finish Crag fished one of the green fruit David had arrived on the ship with out of his pocket and tossed it far over the side with one lunge of his massive arm. The poor fruit fell in an arc until it reached the limit of the ship's artificial gravity and halted as though it had hit an invisible mirror; it then began gently turning in slow circles and floated out further from the ship like a lost feather. Crag waited several seconds until the fruit blended in with the Etherium and David watched with fear and mild appreciation as he lifted the gun, pulled the hammer and fired. Even from the great distance he could see the fruit jerk and its purple juices drifted out from the burning wound. "Wow, Crag! That – that had to be at least 100 yards out! You're incredible!" He cried as Crag twirled the gun on one fat finger and grinned down at him. "Alright, now you try Nicholas."

David stared at the weapon handed to him – it was very large and looked like he would need every ounce of his strength simply to hold it up. He reached into his pocket to retrieve his glasses but Crag lightly boxed him above his ear. "Ya don't need those damn things! Just line up your sights and fire." David didn't bother arguing; his ear was no stranger to the man's fist and he had learned on his second day to just to accept his directions and follow them. He took the pistol in his small hands – it was heavier than he thought! – and struggled to bring it eye level as Crag tossed out a second fruit. The sights were too blurry to be of any help and so after much squinting David made his best guess and fired.

"High and left." Crag reported. David tried to adjust but already his thin arms were shaking like branches in a fierce wind. "I don't think I can do it! My arms are too tired!"

"By the Mother, yer already worn out? Alright, give it here." David eagerly gave back the pistol and his arms sagged in relief; Crag merely shook his head. "Aye, yer a scholar's brat by far; we're gonna have a fair time workin' ya up ta shape." David almost smiled as he remembered his mother telling him and his sisters about the first time their father had used a gun. "_Completely obliterated my grandfather's globe_", she would tease and his father would flush a deep red while the children giggled. Lost in his thoughts the boy hardly noticed as his hand slipped into his pocket and felt the gold coin the Captain had given him. "Hey Crag, would you like to see something I _can_ do?" Crag shrugged and David pulled the coin out and clenched it in his fist; he held both closed fists out to the man and instructed him to choose which hand held the coin. "Ya daft, laddie?" Crag asked, reaching for David's right hand. "I saw ya put it in this – "

The man froze as David opened his hand to reveal what he knew would be an empty palm. Crag blinked, glared at the opposite fist and wrenched it open without waiting for the boy's command. It too was empty. David grinned and admired the roper's startled expression reaching up on his toes and pretending to pull the coin from his tube-shaped ear. "Impressive, huh? My father taught me…I mean he used to trick me with that when I was younger. It took me while to figure out how he did it, but once I did – " David jumped as Crag's hands gripped his shoulders with surprising pain, his face becoming level with the child's. "Nicholas, don't ya ever let me catch ya doin' that voodoo again! _Ya hear me_?" He whispered fiercely and shook David. "It's not voodoo! It's just a trick - !"

"Do. Ya. Hear. Me!" Crag snarled, his fingers digging into his skin so far he felt his bones would snap. "Yes!" He cried.

"Good laddie." The man said as he released David and made the familiar sign on his broad chest; the boy, however, trembled and rubbed the aching spots where bruises would certainly form. "Ain't no point in bringin' that taboo on the ship! Now go find some honest work to keep ya busy."

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

David tried his best to keep up with life on the Laelaps but every day that passed felt like an eternity of loneliness and exhaustion. No one except for Crag and the Captain spoke to the boy and all of his efforts to entice the other men into conversation were only met with rough grunts and glares that made David want to run for cover. Even Glib rarely spoke to him and when he did it was to throw an insult or call for Crag to 'get te lil' rat away from me!'. So miserable was he that the thought of apologizing to his father appeared more and more appealing until all David wanted to do was be in the man's arms again.

One night as the boy was making his way down to the billet he looked off the port side of the Laelaps and saw seven stars in the shape of a trough – Ursa Minor. His brown eyes stung with tears and he wondered if there was anyway his father might be looking at the constellation as well and thinking about his runaway son. He cried himself to sleep that night and even though morning came too soon for his tired body David had already made up his mind; he had to go home – not in a month, but as soon as they reached Crotega. After he forced down his breakfast David went to the deck and up to the heavy door that led to the Captain's stateroom. He knew they were only a day short of making port and it only seemed fair to warn the man about his intentions; especially after he had let David stay on his ship as a guest – or, a working guest – and not as a prisoner. As he stood ready to knock Crag's voice suddenly erupted from the room and David hesitated. "But he ain't ready, Captain!"

"You've had enough time, Crag! We can't miss this spot, now stop your complaining and – "

"Captain?" David called much more timidly than he would have liked and knocked on the door. There was a hushed silence for several moments before Jacobs' voice rang out, "Come in, Nicholas! Don't be shy, my boy." With a deep breathe he entered and nearly ran into Glib's leg; the man snarled down at him but didn't speak as David clumsily apologized and moved to stand before the Captain's desk. "Fine timing, Nicholas, Crag here was just telling me about your progress!" Despite Jacobs' booming voice and gaping smile Crag's face seemed oddly withered. "Thank you, sir, but I don't feel like I have improved that much…"

"Well now that's to be expected! After all we've got to undo all that book learning your mother and father beat into you before we can fill it with what's useful, hmm? Haha!"

"Actually, Captain…" David gulped. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about; I…I've been thinking and I've decided I'd like to go home when we reach Crotega." Jacobs' smile faded ever so slightly but a moment later the radiant grin was back and the man was shaking his head. "Now, now, we've discussed this, my boy! We can't turn tail and go back to Crescentia before we run our full course."

"I know!" He interrupted and was rewarded with an annoyed glare. "But I can go to the police! They would take me home so you wouldn't have to!" His idea was not received as well as David had imagined. Instead of being impressed by his logic and delighted with the idea of sending a useless body home the Captain seemed angered; his bushy brows furrowed together and the twitch in his mouth shook his entire jaw. "The police?" He repeated. The men around him were quiet but their quick glances spoke in a language his mind couldn't interpret and for the first time since he was dragged from the fruit barrel David felt afraid. "Why the sudden urge to leave us, Nicholas? Have you been treated unfairly by my men?"

"No…No, sir."

"Do you feel you've been treated unfairly by _me_?"

"Oh no, Captain; not at all! I owe a great deal of debt to you!"

"Then what, my boy?" He crooned sadly like an injured bird. "You spent hours in here telling me about that oppressive family you left behind and now you want to go _back_? You do realize your parents will never welcome you back until you learn your place in your father's shadow?" David hesitated. Could that be true? Would his parents really not take him back unless he promised to step into his father's place? "I just want to go home…Sir."

Jacob's stared at him heavily, one hand cupping his flabby chin. "Very well, when we reach Crotega I'll take you to the police station and arrange an escort home. But tonight I have a job for you, a very important job that I'm relying only on you to fulfill! Crag, take him up to the crows nest when the signal is made and show him what to do."

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

"So what are we doing up here, Crag?"

They were standing side by side in the crows nest; the Etherium was growing dark around them and shifting the world into a beautiful display of blue and purple hues. The man did not answer him, he didn't even seem to have heard him, and simply stared off into the distance. "Crag?"

"Aye, Nicholas, I hear ya. Come up here and take a seat." Without his consent Crag cupped his armpits and hoisted him up to the rim of the crows nest; David sat there unsteadily and clung to the man's arm with unbridled fear. "Look through me glass and tell me what ya see." The spyglass was far inferior to his father's telescope and David squinted to make out a blurry object several leagues out. "I can't really see it…" Crag instructed him to keep watching and so he did; he held the eye piece up for several seconds, waiting patiently as the lines sharpened and colors brightened, until finally David knew what he was looking at. "It's another galleon! Look – it's flying a Tirenium flag! Its name reads…Huh, it should be somewhere on the hull…oh, there! The H.S.S. Triumph!"

"Aye, lad." Crag mumbled, unimpressed. David watched with glee as the two ships drew nearer and nearer; he used the spyglass to observe the tiny people on deck and gasped with surprise as he glanced up to the opposite crows nest and found a lookout staring at him with his own device. "Crag, that man is looking at us!" He cried childishly. "Wave to him." David did and was thrilled when the stranger waved back before turning to the deck and yelling something incomprehensible; he followed the man's gaze to a figure in striking red – most likely the Captain – and David waved to him as well. "I wish we could talk to them! I bet they've been so many interesting places and – oh!" David lurched as he removed the eyeglass and realized that the two ships were now much closer. Too close. "Crag? Why are we getting so close? If we go any further we may hit them!" He felt the man's hands on him again and David was back in the crow's nest. "Now Nicholas," Crag whispered. "Ye listen good; I'm keen on ya and don't want ta see ya hurt. So ye stay here and ye keep yer head down till I come back fer ya, ye see?" Something in the man's voice made David's heart beat faster. "What are we going up here, Crag?" He repeated, realizing for the first time how deathly quiet the Laelaps had become.

The roper straightened and for a moment David thought he saw pure sorrow cross his face. "Ye've already done yer part, laddie; now just sit tight while I do mine." With that Crag straightened, his pistol suddenly in his hand, and calmly fired one shot into the forehead of the Triumph's lookout.

David screamed. The lifeless body tipped and fell forward to the deck far below; a trail of blood streaming behind him like the juices of the wounded fruit Crag had practiced with. Suddenly the cannons roared to life and David was thrown against the nest's side as the Triumph's hull burst in a shower of splinters and fire. Chaos erupted down below him and the crew of the Laelaps swung on ropes to overrun the helpless ship, spreading across the deck as an infection would. They cut and shot and trampled every living thing as the boy stood witness to his first taste of death. Without realizing it David had sunk to the floor and squeezed his eyes shut but it did not block out the body of the lookout, or the sight of Glib's sword running through the red-coated Captain and the images replayed like a hologram film he could not stop. He screamed and screamed but the sound was masked by the cries of the dying crew and the laughing of the Laelaps men until their voices combined in one horrific clamor.

Suddenly everything stopped. There were no more screams. No more firing of pistols and metal clashing with metal. For one hopeful moment David opened his eyes, wanting to wake up in his bed on the first summer morning and find that everything had been a nightmare, but of course he was far from home in the Laelaps' crows nest. He stayed in that spot, too afraid to move or even breathe, until Crag appeared. David almost vomited when he saw blood on the man's shirt. "Why ya makin' a fuss, Nicholas? Ya hurt? No? Wipe yer eyes then and don't let the Captain see ya blubberin' on like this." He tried to coax David down into the ratlines but the terrified boy refused to move and so Crag simply lifted him over his shoulder and carried him down. The coppery smell of blood assaulted his nose even before they reached the deck and by the time David was placed on his feet the smell had invaded his stomach and made him choke on the taste. "There's my little Nicholas, haha! Bring him over Crag and let me congratulate the boy!"

The young boy barely had the strength to lift his head and immediately wished that he hadn't; Jacobs stood at the foot of the stairs to the upper deck, a fulfilled grin across as his lips. Blood was caked across his deep blue uniform and he wore the stains with as much as much pride as the gold medals that were also tainted with red. "Ah my lad, you've done us a fine service – a fine service indeed. Why without your help me and my men might have never been able to track down this traitorous ship, but your calculations were 'spot on' as your mother would say!"

A horrid feeling crept into David's veins. "No…I didn't…I didn't know!"

"Now, before you think me a cheat here's your share for the work you put in. It's not as much as the boy's cut, but you'll do more of the work next time and earn a bigger piece!" The Captain gripped his hand painfully and forced a small coin bag into his palm. As he spoke David watched as the Laelaps crew, their arms full of guns, returned to the Triumph and began casually throwing the weapons amongst the scattered corpses. "Crag, get little Nicholas in his bunk. It's nearly midnight and the poor boy is so tired he can barely stand!" Crag obeyed and led the comatose child down into the billet; he said nothing to David and left as soon as he was settled in his hammock, abandoning him to the darkness and the echo of the screams in his head. He lay there for what seemed like hours, the shape of the shadows in the room hauntingly reminding him of the people strewn about the deck. People he had helped to kill.

David tried to cry but his body had no more tears to give and so he simply coughed and whined until felt himself finally give way to exhaustion. A moment before he fell asleep one of the crew hands shouted out the arrival of midnight and in the back of his mind David realized for the first time that it was his birthday.

He was nine years old.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

There was no peace for David that night. His dreams were haunted by the lookout, waving to David and smiling even as his own blood trickled down his face from the gaping hole in his forehead. Then everything would shift like rippled water and he would suddenly be running through the corridors of the Laelaps, desperately searching for a way out while Glib's voice echoed behind him, _'Come out, come out lil' rat! Ye did yer job and now we 'ave to do ours!'_. The terrified boy would run until he found what he was looking for – his family's front door – but no matter how hard he pounded or kicked or how loud he screamed nothing could draw his parents there. _"Daddy! Let me in, please! I'll be a good son, I promise! Please!"_ Morning could not come soon enough and yet when it did David could barely stand on his feet from exhaustion. He went through his chores robotically, stiffly, trying to be deaf to the bragging of the crew as they recounted their horrible deeds from the previous night. Throughout the day the boy told himself over and over again '_Just wait until you reach Crotega. Everything will be over once you port at Crotega._' but in his heart David knew that it would not be as easy as his mind hoped.

Just as he had feared the moment '_Crotega, ho!_' echoed across the deck Crag was there gripping his elbow and pulling him to the Captain's stateroom. David had no choice but to follow and within seconds the boy was standing in front of the familiar desk, Crag and Glib on either side of him while Jacobs' grinned down in a reenactment of their first meeting. "Nicholas, just the boy I wanted to see! You and I need to have a talk about your future on my ship."

"Excuse me, _sir_, but I don't have a future on this ship." David stated flatly. The Captain's mouth twitched. "I'm leaving the second we dock and going home to my family!" Jacobs shook his head sadly. "I told you before, little one. The only way you're going home is if you settle for the future your parents picked! Lounging around in a dark room like your father; watching through a brass scope as others live their lives while yours slips by..." David could not have described his worse fear better than the Captain did at that moment. It was as though the man could look past David and into the darkest parts of his mind. "Why, a bright boy like you doesn't deserve that existence! Not when I'm offering you the chance to escape your father's destiny."

The Captain was smiling as he spoke; his uniform was clean and back to its deep blue but David remembered the spots of red as though they were still stained into the fabric. "I'd rather crawl back to my parents than grow into a _murderer_ like you!"

Jacobs grabbed his heart. "You're confused Nicholas, we murdered nobody! That ship was a Procyan vessel disguised in Tirenium colors and _they _attacked _us_. Anyone who finds the wreckage will see that they were armed to the teeth!" An image flashed through his mind, the crew scattering guns around the corpses, and suddenly the extent of the man's cruelness snapped into place. "You - ! You planted those weapons! There wasn't a single gun on that ship until you threw them on there!"

"Now, boy…"

"And me!" He gasped. "You used me to draw them in! That's why you had Crag make me wave to them and – "

"And then you were paid for it!" Jacobs' fist slammed against the deck with a thundering crack. "If you're so innocent in all this then why did you accept payment for tracking that ship and 'drawing them in'? That sounds like intent to me, don't it boys?" The men beside him grunted and the coin purse in David's pocket suddenly felt unbearably heavy. "I – I didn't know! If I had, I would've never - !"

"How are you ever going to explain to your parents about that? You think they'll welcome you with open arms after they find out what you've done?" Jacob's grin spread maliciously. David thought about his dream, screaming for his father's forgiveness only to be left out in the cold. Maybe the man would never bring himself to forgive his son – but David would never forgive _himself _if he spent one more minute on this ship! "I'm a terrible son - but you're a terrible person, a disgrace to the Queen and you deserve to be _hanged_! The police are going to hear about what you've done and I –"

Glib's arm locked across his throat, cutting off his threat in one choke, and David struggled as he was pulled against the man's chest. Then the Captain did something that made the boy's veins run cold – he laughed. "I believe your mother said something similar to me years ago! Ahh, but I had high hopes for you Nicholas; all I wanted was for the Laelaps to be your new home!"

"This will never be my home! My home is on Montres – " Glib's muscles tightened and the small boy fought for air as he dug his fingers into the large arm. Jacobs stepped nearer, so close that David could see his reflection in his black eyes. "It _will_ be, and you'll learn to love it – or I'll send you back to your father in _pieces_." The man patted his check in mock affection. "I'd hate to lose such a fine piece of leverage so I suggest you think carefully about what you want, Nicholas."

"My name – is – _David!_" He shrieked and drawing up every ounce of energy he had spat onto the bridge of his flat nose. Glib and Crag gaped, horrified, but the Captain simply straightened and wiped the child's spit off with the back of his hand. "You see that, Crag; I knew you were too soft with him! Glib, take him to the brig and fix him so he can't get into trouble! And while you're at it, give the pup a taste of the obedience he needs!"

* * *

To be continued.


	4. Shepherd's Flock

Disney (c) TP

OCs (c) me

Again another big thank you to those who read my stories. There have been a lot of original characters so far but don't worry, we will be seeing some more TP characters soon! ;)

* * *

Alone in the brig David had nothing to do but recall his old life and reminisce about the days that seemed like an eternity ago. He remembered once when he and his sisters were younger Ruth had gone outside to play by herself and had stepped on a carpenters nail with her bare foot. Their parents had immediately run out to her, guided by her screams and cries, but in their bedrooms David, Lillian and Jacqueline were also crying from a pain in their feet. After time his sisters had either forgotten or discredited the experience but David had not and as he lay in the miserable brig, bound hand and foot with itchy ropes he wondered if his sisters could feel the pain he felt. He sorely hoped not, for his left eye was swollen where Glib had struck him and every bone in his body seemed on the verge of cracking from his obedience lesson.

He lay there for hours after the ship docked at Crotega; the walls of the ship were not enough to smother the sounds of the lively dock and even if David were not gagged with a sullied rag he knew his cries would not have the strength to be heard above the din. When footsteps approached the heavy wooden door separating him from his freedom David moaned; Glib had obviously come back to reinforce his teachings. But as the door opened he blearily saw the familiar form of Crag and the man quickly crossed the room to kneel beside him. "Ya shouldn' have said those things, Nicholas! Ye've put yerself in a cross way with the Captain and after he's done nothin' but try and help ya," he chided and fished the gag out of the child's mouth. David worked his sore jaw but said nothing and after a moment Crag continued. "Now, I did a bit of beggin' and told him that ye've learned yer lesson and that the brig ain't no place for our little Nicholas to be and the Captain was so sick with worry he agreed. He won't let me free ya, but he says I can take ya to the billet were its warm so long as ya don't make a sound and I told him that ya wouldn't make me look foolish by messin' up again. Ya _won't_ make a fool of me, will ya Nicholas?"

"No…No, Crag." He whimpered into the floor. The man nodded and tightly wrapped David in his coat as he lifted him in his arms. Fear kept him from yelling out for help when he felt them move onto the deck and after many staggering steps Crag entered the billet and placed him in a hammock. "Remember, not a sound, laddie or its back in the brig." David was silent. Crag patted his shoulder and called him a good boy before turning and walking back out to the deck. The boy listened to his fading footsteps and buried his face in the coat that was tucked suffocatingly around his frame.

He had to get away! Somehow he had to find his way home and beg his father to forgive him; but even if the man would not take him back he couldn't spend another day with these murderers. But as he lay there all he could think about was the Captain. He was an important man; he had an official marquee from the Queen's navy and many resources at his disposal – anyone who could raid and burn an innocent trade ship without being caught was either very clever or very powerful and David had a sinking feeling that Jacobs was both. If he were to escape how long could he survive? How long before the privateer's men tracked him down and dragged him back, or simply decided he was not worth the trouble and…David shuddered with a small whimper. He should have known Jacobs would not simply let him skip off the ship; not after what he had witnessed. But why did he want to keep David so badly? What the Captain had said about leverage made no sense to the boy – Miss Spouts had taught them that leverage was the mechanical advantage gained by using a lever; how was David supposed to help him with that?

Footsteps resounded in the room and David jolted with fear. Thick voices quickly followed until they were standing in the billet; he recognized the voices but could not bring up a single one of the sailor's names. "Three men ta watch an empty boat! Shit! Been dreamin' all week of getting off this flyin' bucket and now I'm stuck here with ya ugly louts!" A second man grumbled in agreement. "Don' see why the Captain don' just go on the town and grant us leave like the others." The final voice rang out in an arid laugh. "Hah! You won't see Jacobs out of his room; not with rumors of that Silver cyborg roaming about! Ain't no other man that the Captain's afeared of but him!"

"Stop running your yap, fool!" The first man snarled and the young child felt their eyes bore into his back. He kept his breathing soft and even as he pretended to sleep, the way his father did when trying to trick his children or get out of some chore assigned by their mother. It seemed to work for after several deep breaths they continued in hushed tones. "If te Captain hears ya yammering 'bout that man he'll hang ya from te foremast! Now let's figure who gets first watch."

The men continued to talk nonsense and spew curses while they played some sort of coin game and as David listened to the clinking of the metal against the floor he could hardly believe what they had just confessed. A silver cyborg? The boy had never seen a cyborg in person but the general concept of them – a flesh and blood man fused with metal – seemed very frightening indeed, and somewhere in port was one that made Jacobs afraid to leave his stateroom! He practically trembled with excitement at the thought. David had to get away and he had to find this silver cyborg who could protect him from the Captain's wrath. There was no other way! One of the men lost the game and grumbled as he stalked out of the billet to take the watch while his mates gratefully fell asleep. David counted to one hundred three times before steeling his nerves and using his father's buck teeth to gnaw at the ropes.

He had read about this escape in one of Lillian's books but the reality was much less glamorous than the pages made it seemed; the ropes cut his gums and it was not long before his stinging mouth was coated with blood. But the boy quietly spat out the fibers and forced himself to continue. It took several minutes before he tugged on the binds and finally felt the satisfying snap as the last few stubborn twines gave way; he slowly brought his legs to his chest and began clumsily untying his feet. When he wormed his way out of Crag's jacket and stepped down onto the floor all his fear came rushing back in a powerful wave. He had freed himself. He was going to try and escape. And if he was caught the men would either throw him back in the brig or kill him. This was the thought that plagued David's mind as he crept up the stairs and onto the open deck. It was nighttime on Crotega and the lights of the shipyard shimmered invitingly, as though trying to convince the frightened boy to run for them. Step by step David moved along the deck, every sound causing him to jerk and freeze like a hunted animal, before he reached the railing. The dock was so far below them! He would never survive a jump from this height, but simply walking down the gang plank would not work either for the lookout from earlier was hovering near the entrance. David watched him for several minutes from the shadows but the brute never once faltered or walked away from his post – of all the nights for the ship hands to be responsible!

Suddenly David had an idea. It was an idiotic, rash idea; the kind that would make Ruth giggle and Jacqueline roll her eyes before pointing out the obvious flaws. But at the moment it was all that the boy had besides a long fall and broken legs. He back tracked to the billet as quickly as he dared and collected Crag's coat before returning on deck; the fabric was long and heavy but he slung it over his shoulder and tried to ignore the weight as he climbed up into the shrouds. With every creak and groan of the ship David was sure that he would be caught, that the lookout would turn and see him up in the ratlines, but whether it was luck or something greater the boy made it to the lower topsail. He eased out onto the mainmast and step by step poised himself over the lounging sailor, who was humming to himself softly. David shrugged on the oversized coat and tied the loose end of a sail line around his waist.

It was here that his divine luck ran out and the boy heard the gust of wind approaching a moment before it hit the sails, swelling them with life, and David was flicked effortlessly into the air from the force. His cry of surprise was cut short as the rope pulled taught and he swung back in an arc like a clumsy pendulum.

"W'at in bloody blue blazes - !" It was now or never. David pulled his head down as far against his chest as he could and spread his arms out in the coat sleeves; the very ends billowing behind him as he reached his peak and began the descent back down.

"Taboo! Taboo!" David saw only a glimpse of his terrified face through the fluttering coat and the man threw himself to the ground as the boy soared overhead. He gained less height this time around and was quickly swinging back over his head. "Murderers! Robbers! Deceivers! Tabooooo!" He screamed. The spacer wailed in horror and stumbled over his own feet as he tore off for the billet. "A headless sailor! A phantom come back to haunt us! We're all damned for Davy Jones' for our sins!" They boy barely had time to listen to his clamor; he twisted about and worked on the rope until he fell down onto the deck with a terrible _thud_. His ankle screamed in protest but he didn't listen to that either; he was down the gangplank and running through the docks before the man had time to rouse his mates and discover the poor remains of the specter that had visited him.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

"Help! Help! Can anyone hear me!? Please, I need help!" David cried as he ran through the docks. The spaceport of Crotega had seemed so full of life from the ship but no one answered his calls and every door that the boy frantically knocked on want unopened. The town might have well as been deserted and a growing sense of failure blossomed inside his stomach. After much walking he came to a tall building bursting at the seams with laughter and eagerly he ran up to the door – surely he could not be ignored here. A hanging metal sign read "Shepherd's Flock", a name that sounded pleasant enough, and he cautiously pushed the door open.

David did not know what to expect when he entered the building and his young mind was taken back by the sights that greeted him. Shepherd's Flock was nothing but a bar! Men of all sizes and colors and races littered the small space, drinking amber colored swill and shouting as though they were talking through a high storm. There didn't seem to be enough chairs for the women who were not serving sat themselves on any empty lap they could find. It was dimly lit and as the boy wove his way around the sea of legs he was almost stepped on many times. When he finally reached the bar he gripped the edge and pulled himself up to a seat; a lone multi-tentecled man was drying glasses with a very rotten looking rag. David wet his lips and pulled out the St. Nicholas coin from his pocket; if he was going to begin his search for the silver cyborg it might as well be here. "Excuse me," he called loudly and the man turned. "Sir? I'm looking for somebody and I need to find them immediately! Can you help me? I – I have some money!" The purple-eyed man stared at him but said nothing to his pleading; instead he raised his two front arms and made several quick, organized motions. When he stopped he gazed at David expectantly. "I…ugh, I don't understand…" The alien snorted and made the motions again, more aggravated, but the boy shook his head. "I don't know what you're doing but I don't have a lot of time! Please, I need to find – "

"Ya'll need nothin' but time with old Stumm here. Hasn't said a word since he were a babe!" A large man, his skin blacker than fresh ink, suddenly appeared beside David and towered over him. He had a broad, powerful face and his wide nostrils were pierced with a ring that matched his shiny grey hair. "Now, what's a puppy like ya doin' botherin' my barman?"

David gaped at the great bull of a man. "You're the proprietor?"

"I don't know 'bout that, but it's my name above the door and my ass on the line if the constables find a puppy trying to bargain spirits from my staff!"

"I'm not trying to buy any of your_ disgusting_ poison!" He snapped. The alien laughed and smacked the bar. "Ya're not, are ya? So what's this coin in yar hand for?" Without waiting for an answer the man snatched the coin from David and the boy yelped as he jumped for it. "Give that back to me!"

"It's called a cover charge, puppy! If ya want ta drink with the big boys ya best be ready to pay like one!" One large hand was enough to hold David back as he continued to grasp for the coin. The owner grinned and turned to speak to Stumm and David saw his chance; he planted his feet on the barstool and leaned far enough to grab the coin but before he could pull back his wrist was caught in a sharp vice. "Ya walk into my bar, insult my wares and ain't even smart enough to pay?" He reached to take the coin from David's fist and without thinking the boy slid the coin into his sleeve; when the man pried his fingers away there was nothing but his empty palm.

He blinked and turned David's hand over. "What the – " Again and again he turned his palm over before looking to the astounded barman. "Did ya see that, Stumm?" The alien made a motion with his tentacle that obviously meant 'yes' and both turned to the grinning boy. Once more David leaned forward on the stool and reached within the man's grey locks; when he pulled back the coin was tucked securely between his thumb and forefinger. _'Nicholas, don't ya ever let me catch ya doin' that voodoo again!_ _Ya hear me_?' Crag's voice rang through his head and the young boy immediately regretted doing the trick; he flinched and waited for the black alien's reaction when he suddenly began laughing with joy. "Ah bless me! Take a look, Stumm, we've got a regular Puck to bring us some magic! Sit down now and show me how you do that little caper!"

David refused to divulge his secret but repeated the trick again, this time pulling the coin from Stumm's dishtowel. Some of the patrons gathered around and they too were included in his act; he made the coin disappear from his hand and reappear behind ears or in mugs of alcohol and once he was able to convince a passing waitress to reach into a man's pocket where he had secretly hidden it. That caused quite a stir among the randy group and they began calling out vulgar requests for where he should place the coin and the owner eventually covered the boy's ears. "Alright ya bunch, simmer down; he's just a puppy ya filthy sinners! Back to yar tables and everyone have a round on me!" His offer was too pleasing to pass up and in the blink of an eye the crowd dispersed back into the center of the room. "Now Puck, I don't usually grant children in here but ya've earned a drink in my name! Fill up a glass for him, Stumm."

"But sir - !"

"I told ya, it's my name above the door. Call me Shepherd."

"Shepherd, sir, I'm honestly not looking for a drink! I'm trying to find a silver cyborg and I need his help soon or they'll drag me back to the Laelaps and - !" The man glanced down at him, finally seeming to register the severity in his voice. "Slow down little Puck, what do ya mean 'help'? What's troublin' ya?"

"I said I need to find a sil– _gahh_!" A strangled yelp erupted from him as a fist clamped around his throat. He was torn from the stool and twisted to come eye to eye with Crag's scowling face. "I told ya not to make a fool of me, Nicholas!" He growled. David scratched at the fingers around his neck and gasped for air. "Glib said ye were nothin' but a rat and he was right! Now yer goin' back in that brig ta _rot_ – "

A black fist closed around the hand holding David captive. "I don't like yar harsh words ta someone so young! Ya best put him down before ya find yourself in trouble." Shepherd's chest pressed against the boy's back as he drew nearer and he desperately fought against Crag's hold, trying to escape into the safety of his presence. But the orange-skinned sailor's grip tightened. "Go and put yerself at the end of a cart where ya belong, _cattle!_"

A furious puff of air rolled down across David and suddenly it was Crag who found himself locked in a violent fist. "_Put the Puck down_." Shepherd ordered and squeezed. For a moment David thought for sure that Crag's eyes would burst and his skin turned a sickening shade of purple. Without warning the hand around his throat released and David fell back onto the barstool, gasping and trembling. Shepherd pushed the sailor away with a tremendous shove and gathered David up in his arms; he passed the boy across the bar to Stumm who held him behind his back in three of his tentacles. The other patrons had seen Crag's abuse and were also circling around, creating a barrier like a castle in front of the stunned man. "The boy is a deserter from one of the Queen's ships an' on orders from my Cap'n I'm taken him back ta serve his punishment!"

"_No_!" David screamed. "Shepherd, don't let him have me! They'll kill me!"

"It's no less than ye deserve, _rat_!"

Shepherd cracked his neck and advanced upon the roper, who quickly found that there were too many people gathered around to escape. "I don't know how yar Captain run things on his ship, but on Crotega we don't take kindly ta roughin' up children, do we lads?" On his word several of the men smashed their empty bottles against the tables, leaving shiny, jagged lances in their fists. Crag took one look at the approaching figures and with a last glare at David threw his hands in surrender and fumbled for the door. "I'll be seein' ya soon enough, Nicholas! Mark that!" The air was tense for several seconds after Crag left with nothing to fill the silence except for David's ragged breathing and the dripping of spilled liquor on the floor. Finally some men began whispering to each other, the women resumed their rounds and life sparked in the bar as though nothing had disrupted them. Stumm handed David back to Shepherd who placed the boy on his knee and wrapped one bulging arm around him comfortingly. "Well now ya certainly know how ta cause a fuss don't ya Puck? What did he say your name was…Nicholas?"

"No – that's something _they_ made up. My real name is David…David Doppler."

"David it is, then. So before we go any further I say ya tell me exactly what's goin' on." And so David did. He told Shepherd about his home on Montressor, about his father and how he had felt suffocated under the pressure of living his life. He explained about his runaway and the events that placed him on the Laelaps; the boy did not even falter in telling him about the Triumph, how he had inadvertently helped the Captain to seal the ship's doom and his escape from the deck. Shepherd listened intently, stopping him only once or twice to ask a question or to pull out a handkerchief to dry the tears that David had not realized he was crying. By the time his story was done the crowd had thinned considerably and for the first time the boy felt weightless as though the gravity had been turned off and he was floating free of the guilt on his heart. Stumm also listened to his tale and as David finished he made a few signs with his tentacles. "What is he trying to say, Shepherd?"

"He says he knows that many privateers have been out of work since the Armada moved on, but ta resort ta this…. " The bartender motioned some more and Shepherd nodded in agreement. "Aye, even pirates have the decency ta work under the Jolly Roger; these cowards are lower than a barnacles shit!"

"That's why I have to find a silver cyborg! I heard some of the crew talking on board and they said that Jacobs' is afraid of nothing except a silver cyborg that is in port! If I can find him I know he can protect me long enough to go home." The two men exchanged a curious glance and David gulped. "You'll help me, won't you Shepherd? Stumm?"

"Oh, Puck, I'm afraid ya don't realize what yar asking. Do ya know the name of this man?"

"Well….No, I suppose I don't…"

"Ya know what race he is? What trade? A cyborg ain't nothin' special and silver steel is what most of them are made of." David cast his eyes to the floor, feeling very young and foolish. "I…I didn't think of that. So there's no way to find him?" The boy shuddered and glanced to the door; there was no doubt in his mind that Crag and the others were waiting for him somewhere on the other side. "I can't go back out there alone!"

"Don't fret little David, ya'll stay the night here where we can keep an eye on ya and tomorrow I'll ring one of the constables ta collect ya and take ya home."

"But Jacobs! What if he tries to tell them that I'm a deserter? They'll send me back to him and he'll hang me from the foremast!" Shepherd's hand rubbed his back. "Where in the great blue galaxy did ya pick that up from? I promise ya, Jacobs' ain't a big enough fool ta show his face around the police – just doin' so will cause too many questions for his likin'. Ya did a damn fine job gettin' yarself out of that mess but ya just need ta let yar friends fix ya up a way home. Now let's get ya into a bed so ya can rest up." The thought of a normal bed made David's bones ache for the soft feel of a mattress but immediately he thought of the lookout, of the Triumph, the burning bodies and the smell of blood. "I'm not even sure I can sleep; I have so many nightmares…"

"Well I wager we can fix that too! Stumm, pour me some of that – yea, ya know what I'm after; give some ta our Puck and see if we can't get him a proper nights rest." Already Stumm had something grasped in his tentacle and presented a glass to David. With Shepherd's encouragement he tipped the glass back and swallowed the clear liquid; it was thin and sticky but sweet and it tickled his throat as he downed the drink. "That's a good puppy! We'll make a drinker of ya yet!" They stayed up for some time later, Shepherd talking to Stumm and the alien signing back his responses, but David gradually found his eyes growing heavier until it was all he could do not to crawl onto the bar and fall asleep. He felt himself lifted in his new friend's powerful arms and carried up a flight of stairs before being gently lowered into a bed. When the covers were tucked in around him David almost convinced himself that he was home and pretended that his parents were there beside him, kissing his cheek and whispering their love to him.

"Good night…" He murmured and before he could reply with his love he fell asleep.

* * *

To be continued


	5. Never Going Home

Sorry for the lack of updates; I don't have internet and I am always having to go to a public place that provides WIFI to upload a chapter. I hope everyone enjoys! THis is the last chapter without a character from the movie and I am sure everyone has figured out who is about to arrive. ;)

TP (c) Disney

OC (c) me

* * *

For the first time in two weeks David had a delicious breakfast and the boy had to force himself not to consume the meal in less than five bites. He spent the morning in Shepherd's company and when the man left to fetch a constable as he had promised David turned his attention to Stumm. The barman taught him some basic sign language to David's great delight and also demonstrated some of his more extravagant bottle tricks. He was amazed to learn that the alien had a perfect 1.5 ounce pour with all seven of his limbs and he mixed his drinks with the same pride and efficiency that a master artist painted with. When Shepherd returned he presented the young boy not only with a Robo-Constable but also a canvas sack that was filled to the brim with fresh clothes. David protested, embarrassed by his generosity, but Shepherd merely grinned crookedly and pushed the parcel into his arms. "How are yar poor parents supposed to recognize ya when yar wearin' nothin' but rags?"

As the boy said his goodbyes to the familiar patrons and climbed onto the back of the hover vehicle he found himself almost wishing that he could stay. Stumm motioned goodbye and pulled him into a hug before Shepherd took his place. "Here David, I want ya ta hold onto this," he said and pressed a bundled up bandana into his palm; the boy unwrapped the edges to reveal a slender dagger. "Keep it with ya till ya get yarself home."

The Triumph. Glib slashing everything in sight, the screams of the crew, blood staining the deck. "No! Shepherd, I don't want this!" David panicked and tried to push the bundle back but the man gently gripped his hand and folded his fingers over the base of the dagger. "Ya don't have ta use it; just keep it here," he slid the clothed dagger into the boy's boot. "And as soon as ya get home ya can toss it away and never think of it again. Yes?"

David did not like having that thing so close to him but he nodded in agreement and Shepherd pulled him into a back crunching embrace. "I wish we could keep ya here longer, little Puck! I'll miss ya, ta be sure!" The Robo-constable, oblivious to their farewells, gruffly commanded the men to step back and with a sharp lurch the vehicle sped off. He craned his neck and watched the figures of his two friends for as long as he could before they turned a corner and their grinning faces were lost. The odd pair rode in silence through the town and several people stopped to gaze at them as they cruised by. David bounced lightly as the machine rode on; trying to ignore the way the dagger dug ever so slightly into his ankle as though to remind the boy of its presence. "How far away is the station?"

"Do not distract the driver, young citizen." Came the processed reply and David huffed. Their vehicle slowed to a stop at a busy street intersection and the Robo-Constable patiently waited for the endless crowds of pedestrians to make their way across, barking every now and then at a stray jaywalker. David tried to feel excited, he was about to be on his way home, but something deep inside him twisted his stomach into a knot and the boy felt nothing but nervous fear collecting in his mind.

"Driver, you are traveling too fast in a pedestrian area – " Someone screamed and the world twisted sideways with a loud _crunch_. David hit the hard ground and bounced before landing several feet away, his new clothes scattering across the road like fresh snow. Dust clogged his eyes and nose and the pounding in his head drowned out the sounds of the clamoring people gathering around to see the crash. "Help!" He coughed violently and choked on the dirt in his mouth. The hover vehicle lay trampled on its side and the robotic officer was nowhere to be seen. "Constable? Some-someone, help!"

The someone he had called for was suddenly there, lifting him up and gently carrying him away from the accident. Everything was blurred and faded through his eyes and he couldn't breathe enough to fill his lungs. "What happened? The – the constable, where is he? Is he okay? He's okay, right?" There was no answer and his rescuer simply pounded his fist on the back of a carriage. David craned his neck as the door opened and the man handed him out like an offering to a pair of arms that reached from the inside. For a split second the boy held his own arms out to the new man before catching sight of his face and even through the dust David recognized him – he was a sailor from the Laelaps!

"No! Let me go! Murderers!" He swung back and instinctively dragged his nails across the face of the stranger holding him. With a furious yell he was dropped and David ran. He didn't try crying out to the people around him for help. No one could help him! He just had to keep running! Heavy stomps followed him as he ducked and weaved through the alleys and no matter how fast he ran or how many turns he took they grew closer and closer. Desperate, he wormed his way through a gap in a partially boarded up doorframe and found himself in a decrepit apartment house. One sneeze appeared powerful enough to bring the building crumbling down and David held his breath as he ran up the stairs.

Nothing followed him. There were no more footsteps. The child fell to his knees on the top stair and gazed back down at the door, half expecting for it to simply be blasted away and the chase to begin again. He whimpered as the boards rattled and once the man trapped on the other side kicked them but to no avail. Just as David had allowed himself to breathe a strange scuffling drifted from the doorway and as he watched something was pushed through the small gap in the boards. It looked like a soggy mess of newspapers except that it was a strange shade of purple and – to his horror –_ breathing_. "Bring him back, girl!"

The creature jiggled; one end lifting ever so slightly off the floor and extending forward to clamp back down and drag the over half along. It left a trail of mucus behind and David thought he would be sick at the mere sight of it. The disgusting thing moved across the ground and ever so often it would pause, lift what the boy could only assume was its head, and make a strange huffing noise. He watched curiously for some while, almost forgetting about the danger on the other side of the door, as the animal repeated the strange act until it finally dawned on David what he was witnessing – the thing was _smelling_ for him.

Suddenly the creature stopped and a bubbling hiss filled the air before it turned and began lurching towards the staircase; its slow, lumbering movements were replaced with the cold efficiency of a track animal about to corner its prey and David wasted no time in running. He didn't know what that thing would do if it caught him and he did not want to find out! Room after room he ran by, testing each door only to find with a sinking heart that they were locked. Locked! Locked! Locked! He threw himself at the last door and cried out as the doorknob refused to give. They were all locked! David turned at the sound of hissing – the creature was at the end of the hallway! He was trapped; he was trapped and he was going to be killed and he would never see his sisters again and his father would always think that his son had run away from him –

Then he saw it. Near the middle of the hallway, so flush and even with the wall that he had missed it in his panic, was a small door. David ran to it and dropped to the ground as he pushed against it – no! It was locked! The creature slithered closer, wheezing as it tracked his scent. "I'm not going back!" He screamed and slammed his fists against the unrelenting door. He couldn't go back to Jacobs! He couldn't help him destroy another ship! He couldn't be his leverage!

Leverage.

It hit him like a slap from Miss Spouts. He felt almost possessed as he plucked Shepherd's knife from his boot and robotically wedged the sharp blade as far as he could under the pin of the door hinge. The creature hissed nearby and he pulled down as hard as his muscles could. The pin squeaked in fury and rose up several inches. Without thinking he flipped the knife, this time placing the spine underneath the pin head, and again pulled.

_Plink_!

The pin tumbled to the ground by his feet. There was no time to waste! He positioned the knife under the second and final pin when out of the corner of his eye the creature stopped, lifted its head, and let out a horrifying shriek. The scream bounced off the walls and David forced himself not to cover his ears. He pushed and the pin scarcely moved. The creature's wail dissolved into a growl and it lunged forward. David pushed with all his might. _Plink_!

The door came away in his hands and David threw the heavy piece at the creature that was less than ten feet away. He didn't stop to watch as it hit the thing full on and looked back to the open threshold of the door – a threshold that led to nothing but darkness! The boy slid his feet through and was terrified to find his legs dangling in air. Where was the floor?! The creature snarled and David shut his eyes, said a prayer, and pushed himself in.

His fall lasted for a mere second before his arm was wrenched up and David cried out in shock and pain. The creature was at the opening, raised up to expose a circular mouth and a tendril like tongue that was wrapped around his wrist. There was a sucking sound and the slimy tongue slowly receded back in, pulling the boy with it! "Get off me you disgusting freak!" His hand crept closer to its mouth. David suddenly remembered the weight clutched in his free palm and he swung his hand up with a fierce cry.

The creature screamed as the knife severed its tongue and David dropped. He fell and fell and fell into the darkness for forever until –

_CRASH! _Everything stopped. David wasn't sure if he passed out at the impact but when he opened his eyes he was lying on several bags of foul smelling garbage, the knife lying dejectedly nearby. He didn't think about where he was or what had just happened; he simply scooped up his new best friend and did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

He ran through the sunset tinted streets until he found a drainage ditch and threw himself in it; crawling as far into the pipe as he could. And then he waited. He waited to be found, or captured, or rescued, or forgotten. If only Glib could see him now; hiding in a sewer like a rat! Nighttime crept in and David wasn't sure if he was relieved or frightened by the shadows that began to spread along his feet. People drifted by and mindlessly returned to their homes, unaware of the youth cowering by the side of the street. The boy was about to close his eyes and try to sleep when a familiar voice shattered the quiet. "_David!_" He heard his name and yet still the boy waited, listening, crying softly as he did trapped in the barrel on the Laelaps. "David! Dammit, Puck, answer me!"

And with that David bolted. He ran out into the street and with a loud sob jumped into Shepherd's waiting arms.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTP

"And t-then something hit us and a man – I thought he was trying to help but he almost gave me to one of them! I ran and this – this _thing _followed me and grabbed my arm and I fell and – and – and…" David dissolved into tears and buried his face into Shepherd's shoulder, his legs and arms wrapped as far around his broad body as possible. "And all the c-clothes you bought me are ruined – I'm so sorry!"

"I don't give a damn 'bout the clothes, David; I'm just glad I found ya!" The man said and shushed him kindly as he sobbed. "Now now, ya've had a top notch scare today, but yar safe here at the Flock – I ain't gonna let any of his men hurt ya - "

"It doesn't matter!" He cried. "The constable was right_ there_ and Jacobs still almost got me! He's not afraid of anything!"

"Puck…"

"I'm never going to get home!"

Before Shepherd could answer a soft knock came from the door and Stumm entered; one of his tentacles was bandaged with a crudely designed splint and David gasped at the sight of it. "Stumm! What happened to your arm?" The silent alien merely smiled and ran an uninjured arm through his brown hair before saying something to Shepherd with his complex motions. "Already? Alright, then." The man gripped David's waist and slid him onto the bed before standing. "One of my boys is gonna bring you some dinner, David, and then I want ya ta go ta sleep."

"Where are you going?" He asked as the pair moved towards the door, not caring how desperate he must have sounded. Shepherd smiled and tapped his cheek playfully. "I ain't leavin' the Flock; me and Strumm have got a bit of business waitin' on us – I'm gonna be just down the hall if ya need me." He added as David's face contracted in fear. Stumm flashed him a reassuring smile and then they were gone. Dinner came quickly after and the small alien who brought it was kind enough to sit with David for a spell, but the young boy could hardly bring himself to eat any of the food. All he could think of was the accident, that dark carriage, the creature that had tracked him down; he had come so close to falling right back into Jacobs' grasp and he had not even been on the run for two days. How was he supposed to last the two week journey back to Montressor? Shepherd could not leave his bar, Stumm was somehow injured and there was no way to find the silver cyborg that had once filled David with hope.

He tried to sleep after his partially eaten dinner was taken away but he tossed and turned in the sheets so viscously he knocked the covers off. Finally David glanced at the pocket watch that Stumm had left behind on the nightstand – it was nearly one a.m.! Why was Shepherd not back?

David eased himself into the hallway but the entire upper level seemed devoid of life. Music and laughter filtered up from the stairwell but he walked away from the noise and deeper into the building towards a room that he hoped was hiding his friend. It was not long before he heard Shepherd's bass toned voice from the very end of the corridor; the boy prepared to knock but suddenly stopped himself. If he had just listened when Crag and the Captain had been speaking on the Laelaps he might have figured out their plan and avoided this! As quietly as he could David dropped to his knees and pressed his ear against the gap under the door.

"I've never heard of it," Shepherd was saying. "A man attacking a Robo-Constable in broad day and a crowded street! Ya can bet Jacobs had the man on his tab; he's gettin' desperate to reach the boy and we ain't gonna be able to keep him safe much longer. Just look what they did ta Stumm!" David's heart jumped into his throat. So those terrible men hurt Stumm! And all because of him…

"And what's one boy got to do with us?" An unfamiliar voice snapped. David frowned; his parents had taught him not to judge others but something instinctual in his mind immediately told him that this was not a pleasant man. Shepherd obviously did not care for him either for his next words were riddled with spite. "David ain't got nothin' ta do with ya, Ripleigh! But _ya_ – ." He must have turned to another stranger. "Ya've got history with the family. If anyone can help it's – "

The man named Ripleigh laughed. "Aye, he's got history; one that will get us both hanged if we prance on in with the boy in tow! Keep the mutt and we'll keep our necks!"

"I told ya this ain't got nothin' ta do with ya! So unless _his_ hand is up yar arse movin' yar lips ya best shut it and let him do his own talkin'!" Suddenly there was a scrapping of chairs and the men's feet pounded on the floor as they leapt up; David held his breath but nothing followed. After several gut wrenching seconds the chairs groaned as the pair returned to their seats and Shepherd continued in a restrained tone. "I wouldn't be askin' ya this except there's no way for us ta protect the boy. Jacobs' is breathin' down our necks and soon he'll get tired of bein' crafty and just torch the place! I'd take David home myself but one barkeep ain't gonna put a bit of dread in that man's heart."

"How do you even know the boy will go with us?"

And then David heard the voice of the second stranger; his warm laughter echoed through the hall like a chipped bell and for some reason he couldn't understand the child felt at ease. "Well now, if ya want ta know why don't ya just open te door and let te boy speak? He's waitin' right on te other side!"

His ease evaporated as footsteps approached the hall and David scrambled to his feet just as the door opened and revealed the caught boy to everyone inside.

* * *

To Be Continued.


	6. The Silver Cyborg

Disney/RLS (c) TP

Enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

David couldn't move as Stumm stared down at him; his expression cloudy and unreadable. "I'm sorry Stumm! It just got so late and I didn't know where you two were – !" The alien waved a tentacle dismissively and motioned for the boy to enter. He obeyed hesitantly and walked into the room with timid steps, prepared to run back into the safety of the hallway, and as though the man could read his thoughts Stumm shut the door behind him. His eyes found Shepherd, lounging in a chair and shaking his head with amusement. "Haven't ya learned what sort of trouble ya can get into listenin' at doors, Puck?"

David was about to apologize again when a voice interrupted him. "So this is the little mutt?"

The boy turned. Ripleigh, for David recognized his voice, was as vile looking as he had imagined. He was tall and sickeningly scrawny; his limbs so thin they looked ready to shatter at the slightest touch. He wore no shoes for his feet were simply thick talons attached to pebbly legs and his fingers were also sharpened into fine points. The gauntness of his face was intensified by his hairless scalp and his nose was nothing more than a fleshy beak that protruded too far out. "We're gonna risk our lives over this waste of flesh?"

"Watch yar tongue, Ripleigh! I won't keep that sort of talk here!" Shepherd snapped.

"Well seein' as how I still got my tongue," the bird-like man snarled with a sliding glance to Stumm. "I'll talk as much as I damn well please!"

The thin alien laughed, exposing stained yellow teeth, and David's nose crinkled with disgust– he reeked of alcohol! "Miss Spouts taught me that a fool talks, but a wise man speaks; so talk all you want and leave the rest to us!"

The laughing stopped and Ripleigh's sunken eyes locked onto him. "You call me a fool you irritating little - !"

"Oh, stow it, Rip! Te lad's right, ye've done enough talkin' fer all of us and now I want ta hear him." He knew the warm voice; it was the one that had told the others of his presence in the hall. David glanced behind him. A large man, greater in size than Shepherd or even Captain Jacobs, was seated near the back wall half covered by shadows. He grinned and displayed a gap in his front teeth as he stroked his fat chin with a hand – a mechanical hand; a hand that gleamed in the light created by his shining golden eye as it locked onto the amazed boy. A cyborg! "Come 'ere, lad, and let me see ya."

David found his legs unwilling to move; his earlier assumptions had been correct, the sight of a true cyborg was quite frightening and hidden under his joy was a simmering layer of fear.

The cyborg's grin widened and he motioned with the metal hand. "Don't be put off by t'ese gadgets," he offered. Somehow he managed to take a step and then another and forced himself to continue until he stood in front of the man; even sitting down he was easily twice David's height! The eye moved, unfolding like a flower to reveal the core of the machine and without warning a bright red laser shot out and fell on the center of the boy's forehead. He gasped and closed his eyes, expecting pain, but he only heard a soft humming as the laser swept over his body.

"So pup, Shep tells me t'at ye've been askin' around for me." The man said when his eye finally clicked closed.

David nodded nervously. "I've been looking for a cyborg; the one that Jacobs is afraid of. I need help going home and - "

"We've heard all this already! I'm tellin' you we don't need to get involved – " The cyborg's gaze snapped up and Ripleigh's complaining immediately quieted; David could not help but feel awed by the power he had to command men with only a look. "Go on." He encouraged David.

"Jacobs wants to keep me trapped on his ship and I need help getting home to Montressor! I – I can't make it alone and I wouldn't have even run away from him except that his men said he's afraid of a silver cyborg. Is that you – sir?"

"Aye, I s'pose I've earned t'at title. Ya see pup, Jacobs once tried his lil' trick on me and me crew – only we didn' go down as quietly as t'ose merchants he's so fond of!"

"What happened?" David pressed eagerly.

"He got run off wit' his tail between his legs, t'at's w'at! I promised ta return te favor someday and he ain't fancied my company since." The boy felt a raw excitement creep through his veins just like when he had first heard of the man's existence down in the billet. He had found him! The one being in the entire galaxy besides God himself that could protect David from the privateers was sitting less than five feet away! The child was so caught up in his joyful thoughts he barely registered Shepherd's voice speaking to the cyborg. "Ya've got the boy here now and ya've heard him. So what say ya?"

"I say no! There ain't no point in getting mixed up in this mess!"

"Jacobs wouldn't be afraid of a drunkard like you!" David growled to Ripleigh. "I don't need _your_ help!"

"The only thing you _need_, mutt, is – !"

The cyborg's laughter abruptly silenced them both. "Oh Heavens! Ye got yer pop's looks but ya bark just like yer dear mother!"

David blinked, confused, as the man continued laughing. Just how many people in the galaxy had met his parents?! "I don't understand - how do you know my parents?"

"For the love of – " Ripleigh sighed angrily and shook his head. "You mean to tell me you don't even know who he is!? Silver, let's just go; this clueless mutt is gonna get us killed and – "

"Silver!" David cried and everything clicked together as fluidly as a pair of cogs. How could he have not realized it sooner? The Laelaps men had not been talking about a silver cyborg; they had meant that Jacobs was afraid of _the_ Silver cyborg. A cyborg who's legend had been told to him and his sisters through their entire short lives. "You – you – you're Long John Silver! You were the one on the Legacy with my parents – the one that led the mutiny!"

"So ya do know 'bout me! I never figured yer folks would share my tale wit' ye lil' ones; it don't exactly make a fit bedtime story."

"They didn't! I mean, Mom doesn't like for me and my sisters to hear about it…But Jim told us all about you!"

Almost instantly the grin that had been spreading across Silver's face faltered but David continued, oblivious to the subtle change. "Whenever he came home Jim would always tell us about how you met, everything you taught him, the black hole and the gate and Flint's trove and – I – I can't believe it's you!"

"He gonna piss himself?"

"Ripleigh!"

"I can't believe it's you!" David cried again. "And you're here! You can take me home!"

Suddenly Silver's hand flew up and motioned for the boy to stop. "Slow down, now. Rip's right; I can't be te one t'at takes ya back."

"Wha - ! What do you mean you can't?! You're the only one who _can_!"

"Ya owe me, Silver!" Shepherd jumped in, pointing a forceful finger at the lounging cyborg. "Don't ya forget that!"

"Don't_ ye_ forget," Silver snarled. "I told ya I'd hear te boy out, and I did! I made no promises to ya or anyone else!" His voice rose into a roar with each word, the mechanical eye melting into a rich red that made the room seem like it was on fire. "And if ye t'ink I'm gonna take care of yer lil' _errand_, ye got anot'er t'ing comin'!"

"I'm not an errand!" David yelled above the screaming men. The burning eyes and twisted scowl snapped back to him; it was incredible the change that had so quickly overtaken the cyborg. This was not the sailor that Jim had looked up to, or the savior David had envisioned on the Laelaps – this was the Silver his parent's had not wanted him or his sisters to know about and now the child knew why. "I'm a boy and – and I just wanna go home! Here!"

Thrusting his hand into his pocket David fished out the pouch of coins Jacobs had awarded him with and practically threw the bundle into the man's lap. "That's all the money I have, but I can do chores on your ship too! I swear I'll work around the clock and I'll do anything you say, just please….!"

Silver's face remained as smooth and unresponsive as steel. He held the coin purse in his flesh hand delicately as though judging the weight of the meager collection, his eyes fixed onto David's. After several long seconds his wrist flicked and the bag fell unceremoniously to the boy's feet with an angry chorus of clinking coins. "I'm sorry, pup, but ye 'ave ta find someone else."

It felt as though Crag's fist had slammed into David's nauseous stomach and he couldn't breathe enough oxygen into his aching lungs. He stood there in horror and struggled to find his trembling voice. "….Jim was wrong about you."

Silver frowned. "W'at ya say?"

"I said Jim was wrong about you! He said that you're kind and a good person, and – and – and you're not! You're going to let Jacobs kill me just because I can't pay you enough! There's nothing good about you!"

"David!"

The child spun around, startled at the sound of Shepherd's voice; he had almost forgotten about the three men sitting behind him, all of whom were staring with mild surprise. Silver too seemed taken aback but David did not see his bewildered expression; his eyes were locked onto Stumm's bandaged arm. '_Soon he'll get tired of bein' crafty and just torch the place!'_ Shepherd had said, and in the depths of his heart he knew it was the truth.

David scooped up the dejected coin pouch, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and made for the door. "I don't need either of you pirates! I'll take care of myse - yaalp!"

He yelped as a strong hand latched onto his collar and pulled him backwards onto Silver's good knee. "'Old on, Davie! Just 'old on. I can't take ya ta Montressor and it ain't got nothin' ta do wit' money. It's cause yer mother would sooner shoot me t'an look at me, 'specially if she catches me around one of her babes! But…." His thick voice had softened into nearly a whisper but the boy refused to turn and face him even as the hand dropped to rub his back comfortingly. "But I can bring ya ta Crescentia; it ain't but stones throw from yer planet."

_That_ got David's full attention and he finally turned to gape at his now gentle face. "You'll take me all the way to Crescentia? Yes! That – that would be wonderful!"

"No it bloody hell _will not be_!" Shepherd bellowed; his deep voice monstrous in the cramped room. "So ya'll take him ta Crescentia, eh? And then what? Ya know damn well that Jacobs will be waitin' ta snatch him up the moment he steps foot off yar barge!"

Silver looked ready to respond but Ripleigh jumped to his feet and cut the cyborg off. "Ey! The mutt asked to be taken back; there weren't no word about any _babysittin'_ once he got there! If he's too slow and _stupid_ to make it home without us holdin' his grubby little hand – "

"_I warned ya I won't keep that talk_!" Both men hissed like vipers and moved to meet each other, Shepherd's massive form exaggerated by Ripleigh's scrawny frame, but before they could lay hands on the other Stumm was there; he bounded between the rivals and immediately began signing at a desperate pace. David understood none of the motions but the others watched with interest as Stumm silently spoke and when he finally finished Shepherd was seated again and nodding approvingly. "Damn Stumm, that ain't such a piss poor idea! If ya two can't go all the way ta Montressor just have someone come and meet him on Crescentia!"

"Aye, but who? I don't know anyone on that back hole planet, and it can't damn well be his parents – they're the ones were tryin' to dodge!"

"Don't ya worry about t'at, Rip." Silver said with a grin and a sharp pat on David's back. "I've got someone in mind that'll do just fine. T'ere won't be a moment Davie won't have a set of eyes watchin' him and I wager te boy will be beggin' fer some privacy 'fore long!"

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

The sky was still dark as David stood on the docks, although the sun was just beginning to teasingly peek over the horizon and announce the new day. Silver had ordered that they leave before morning and even though the boy was exhausted and constantly rubbing the weariness out of his eyes he had not argued. Now, caught up in Shepherd's arms, he said his second goodbyes as the two pirates readied the small schooner for their trip home.

Hs friend flexed his arms one last time before finally releasing David and placing him down long enough for Stumm to also hug him with his uninjured arms. "Ya still got that blade, David?"

David patted his boot. "Right here, Shepherd. I don't even feel nervous with it there anymore."

"Good, now ya just listen ta whatever Silver tells ya and ya'll be home with no trouble. I wouldn't send ya off with him if I didn't trust the man."

"I wanted to ask you, what did you mean when you said he owed you?"

"Just what it sounds! He's owed me a single favor since the time I met him and I figured it was time ta cash in."

"Wow! How did you ever get a favor from him!?"

Shepherd grinned. "I broke him out of lockup with only some twine and a shoe buckle."

"Don't listen to that crap!" Ripleigh was suddenly beside him, looking even sicklier under the soft glow of the moon. "He changes the damn story every time you ask him! Now get on board or get left behind." A low groan issued from Shepherd as the tall man turned back to the gangplank. "Ya know, Puck, if ya get fed up with that dirty fowl I'm sure Silver wouldn't mind if ya take that blade and…."

A surprisingly strong punch from Stumm ended his sentence just in time for Silver's bellow to be heard from on deck. "Get a move on, Davie! It's time ta launch!" The boy's feet scrambled to run up the gangplank as he yelled "Yes, sir!" and as soon as his feet hit the deck the ship began to hum with life. Pipes buried deep within the wood rattled as the stored energy rushed through them and the solar sails swelled to life in response. "Did t'ose low-lives 'appen ta teach ya w'at ta do in a launch, pup?"

"No Silv - _Captain_, the only time we launched I was unconscious in a barrel!"

"…Yer gonna 'ave ta explain t'at part ta me later, but fer now just 'old on!"

David wasn't sure why he should hold on but his grip on the railing tightened at his new Captain's command. Over the humming of the engines David heard his friend's voice carry over to him. "Remember Puck, write ta me as soon as ya get home! And come back when ya'r ready for that drink! Haha!" But before the boy could call back the sails brightened like a revived star and the ship thrust forward into the open Etherium. Shepherd and Stumm grinned up at him as the ship drifted away like a leaf caught on the wind and his heart was also lifted on the currents. This was it, he was going home! It was only a few moments later that David's stomach turned and suddenly his heart was not the only thing that was lifted – he was hovering nearly a foot off deck!

"Anytime, Rip!"

"Yeah, yeah!" And with that a strange force washed over the ship and his feet stomped back safely to the wooden floor. "In - Incredible!"

"Silver, do you remember somethin' about swearin' to do chores? Round the clock is what I heard."

"I t'ink yer right!" Silver laughed and David felt a hand collide with his back. "Well Davie, I hope yer ready, te last cabin boy I had left ya some mighty large shoes ta fill!"

* * *

To be continued


	7. Sending A Message

"Well mutt, how you farin' all by yourself?"

David yawned and glanced up from his spot on the deck as Ripleigh stepped forward from the billet, looking completely refreshed despite only having rested for three hours. "It's really not that bad; the Laelaps was a lot bigger and there was a lot more to do."

"Well," the man mused as he glanced around the clean deck, "Those privateers taught you not to be completely useless, I'll give them that."

"I guess that was _almost_ a compliment."

"I better be more careful – don't wanna spoil you." Ripleigh chuckled to himself and nudged David with his lanky knee.

David had spent the past two days doing chores and learning tricks of the sailing trade from Ripleigh while at night Silver entertained them both with all manners of stories from his youth. They had seen no sign of Jacobs or his ship since leaving Crotega; for the weary boy it was like a serene dream, not having to look over his shoulder or be afraid to go to sleep. But on the third morning David woke up to find the ship docked, his Captain gone, and Ripleigh with a list of chores. "I don't like being here – every minute that we're in port gives Jacobs more time to catch up with us."

"Well we can't leave till Silver finishes his business, so we might as well enjoy the land while our feet's on it. I'm gonna go get a drink, follow if you want."

"What?" David gasped, but the tall man was already moving across the deck. "But we have to be ready to leave when Silver comes back. And if we're not here, he's gonna be so mad!"

"Trust me mutt, we'll be back long before Silver drags his tail back. And if I'm gonna be stuck on this tub for four more days I need to refill my stock."

"You know, cirrhosis of the liver is one of the leading causes of death."

"That so? Well where does bein' hacked apart by privateers fall on that list of yours?" David did not answer.

It took nearly four of his steps to match a single long stride of Ripleigh but the boy made no effort to keep up. He stared around, entranced by the people selling wares of fruit pies, woven fabric rugs and strange metal objects that he didn't understand the importance of. "Hey Ripleigh, what's the name of Silver's ship?"

The man grumbled, agitated at not yet finding a bar. "Nothin' right now, Silver can't ever make his mind up to a name."

"Isn't he worried about sailing an unnamed ship? I've always heard it was bad luck."

"Weren't you the one preachin' on how we shouldn't be afraid of superstitions, _Nicholas_? Ah – finally!" Without warning the sailor veered left and pushed open a heavy door. A cloud of smoke rushed out like trapped water and David cringed as the arid smell burned his eyes. "No way –_ cough_ – no way I'm going in there!" He argued and planted his feet in the ground stubbornly.

Ripleigh was not impressed with the show. "Fine, off with you then!"

"By – by myself? What if Jacobs – "

"Heavens above, you're prissier than a chapel nun. We haven't seen hair nor sail of him for nearly three days."

That was true, but it did little to calm David's nerves. Still, the bar – what part the boy could see through the blanket of smoke – did not look even a fraction as inviting as Shepherd's had been and in the back of his mind David thought he would rather walk freely into the Laelaps' brig. "Fine, I'll walk around for a while. Just promise me that you'll stay here where I can find you?"

Ripleigh gave a tight grin and saluted. "Now that's a promise."

And so David continued on his own, skipping between cobblestones on the cluttered pathway. He stopped at several of the stalls and gazed at the odd trinkets and trifles and the odder people pitching their wares. He found a pretty embroidered journal that Ruth would fawn over, a copy of Romeo and Juliet for Lily, and a garrison cap for Jackie; the coins in his pocket felt heavy as he realized he had not gotten his sisters presents for their birthday. "Maybe when I get home," he said to himself and tore himself away. "I should save this money in case Silver wants it."

Hours passed with aimless wandering when the boy came across a sight that stopped him in his tracks; it was an unimpressive half-timbered building with fire brick infills and metal pipes running vertically alongside the walls. The pipes merged together at the crux of the roof and were sloppily connected to a large, weathered pole that looked as though it had been on the end of one too many lightening strikes. David immediately recognized the device for what it was and ducked into the office; shelves plastered from floor to ceiling were overflowing with different makes, editions, and models of telegraph machines. Some were so large that they were fused with tables to create an entire sitting desk – just like the one that his father had in his study. "No tuchen, sonnee!"

"I'm not!" David yelped in reflex and jumped back several feet, nearly knocking over the machines behind him.

"Wach wot yurr duin! Dun move, jus' you'm stae dere an keep yurr grubbee hands by'um self!"

The boy had no idea what he was being ordered to do but he instinctively stayed still and trembled where he stood. In the back sat a heavy, bulbous man, so surrounded with machines and fields of paper that David had missed them both entirely. His grey eyes narrowed behind glasses that were as wide and circular as the desk he squatted behind. "You'm eated, yes?"

"I've what?"

"Eated, yes? You'm eated summthin sweet an steecky an no'youm touch moi poor, poor macheens weth yurr feelthy hands! Run ouff to you'm muther, oi dun like todd's in moi store."

It was no wonder they had chosen this man to work the telegraph office – spoken words were obviously not his strong suit. "Does your transmitter reach as far as Montressor?"

The operator huffed, offended by the question. "Moi macheens speek across te galaksy if'm oi ask eem to. You'm have message to speek?"

David hesitated and drew a line on the wooden floor with his shoe. Jacobs had promised to write to his mother but it was obvious now that the man had never intended to keep his word, which meant his parents still had no idea where he was. If they weren't still mad at David and they were wondering where he was then the not knowing must have been driving them mad with worry. "Yes."

"Moi rates are on te bourd. Mark duwn you'm message and receiver code – or leave if'youm want!" He added as David looked in distaste at the man's prices. "No, I'll buy a ten word message."

David donned his own glasses and wrote his father's receiver number from memory and silently thanked his mother for forcing him and his sisters to memorize the sequence in case of emergencies. Although he doubted this was the sort of emergency his mother had in mind at the time. As the operator tenderly adjusted his transmitter to his father's frequency David set to work on the message. After a few minutes of thought he scribbled out:

_Docked in Wake, Feinefre. Safe. Coming home._

He paused. He still had three words to use, but his mind struggled with how to end it, as though the entire message depended on the last line. His pencil hovered over the bottom of the paper until finally he gathered the courage to write:

_Love you all_

David handed over the telegram before he could convince himself to change anything and counted out some coins on the counter. "Can you send the message more than once? Just to make sure that they don't miss it?"

"Oi can, but it'all cost moare."

"How much more?"

His eyes twinkled and the boy tipped the coin bag over with a sigh. "Tis'em cuver it." The man smiled and adjusted his large spectacles to read over the strip of paper. "And dun touch aneethin on yurr way ouat!"

"Alright, geez, hands to myself. You should put a sign on your door and save your breath." David wished he had a peanut butter sandwich to spread over the precious machines. He took one step outside when the operators nasally voice called out to him. "Sonnee! Com'on back."

The man was staring heavily at the written message as David re-approached. He motioned for the boy's hand and dropped several coins into his palm as he spoke kindly. "Oi theenk you'm pay too much." David smiled and whispered a thank you before scurrying out the door and back to the bustling market street. He would find more money for Silver somehow – but now there were a few other items he wanted to buy.

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

* * *

TPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTPTP

"Damn it all mutt, could you not eat so loud?"

"It's soup you mush brain – I'm not even chewing."

"Just be quiet… And move your shit!"

"Hey, stop it!" David cried and pulled the bag from under the table before Ripliegh could land a second kick. "Those are for my sisters! Keep your nasty talons away from them before you break something!"

"Sounds like ye two are a couple of ol' mess mates." Silver grinned and shuffled down into the cramped galley, gently tugging David's ear in greeting.

"And the prodigal Captain returns! Wanna share where you've been hidin' your ugly mug all day?"

"Nope." The cyborg answered smugly. David smiled as Silver sat with a heavy thud and the drunken man cringed in pain at the sound. "So how'd ye two keep busy today?"

Ripleigh glared up at the boy through his fingers – a silent reminder of his order not to speak about them leaving the ship. David glared back. "I don't think I need to tell you how_ he_ spent his time."

"Shove it."

"Don' t'ink t'is is gonna get ya outta yer watch tonight, Rip."

"You shove it too." The tall alien stood and wobbled up the stairs. "Goin' to bed."

David watched the unsteady sailor climb to the deck, practically on his hands and knees, and shook his head. "I'm never drinking, not if it turns you into that."

Silver chuckled. "It don't, but t'at's still a fine rule ta go by. So w'at did ya do while Rip was drinkin' himself stupid?"

His mechanical eye locked onto him with testing a glance, as though he already knew the answer. David toed the bag containing his sister's presents, tempted to tell the truth, but cowered out despite the omniscient gaze. "Just practiced my knots and other stuff. I want to get all the practice in that I can, you know, before I get home."

"Ya make it sound like yer sailin' days are over. Ye thinkin' more about fillin yer old pop's shoes?"

"I don't really know what's going to happen, but I'll do whatever it takes to get back home."

After several quiet seconds his Captain seemed to accept the answer; he stood and patted David's head. "Well, we have one more day in port and t'en ye'll be back on yer way home. Don't stay up too late, ye got third watch after me."

"Yes sir." The boy smiled and Silver returned the gesture before he climbed up to the deck.

Whatever it takes. Even if that meant never stepping foot on a ship again. Even if he promised to follow in whatever path his father chose for him – David would do anything if it earned him his place back beside his family. Rummaging through a cabinet, David pulled out several sheets of butcher paper and sat down at the table. One by one he arranged the gifts and wrapped them as best he could, pushing thoughts of his future out of his mind and focusing only on the delight he hoped to see on his sister's faces when they saw their presents.

And maybe, when they saw him too.

* * *

To be continued.


End file.
